The USPOULTRY Board Research Initiative is requesting pre-proposals on the reduction of Salmonella contamination of commercial eggs. Salmonella contamination of eggs can occur by direct vertical transmission inside the egg, as with Salmonella enteritidis (SE), or by eggshell contamination, which may lead to penetration of the eggshell by other Salmonellas.
Current methods used to control Salmonella enteritidis have significantly reduced the SE contamination of commercial eggs. Additional methods are needed to further improve the microbiological quality of commercial eggs by reducing the contamination of eggs by Salmonellas other than SE. The areas of focus for the research will include the development of improved vaccines and vaccine schedules to reduce non-SE Salmonella contamination of eggs, development of practical programs to use competitive exclusion, probiotics, prebiotics or other products delivered in the feed or water to reduce non-SE Salmonella contamination of eggs, and the development of improved integrated pest management programs to control the vectors of non-SE Salmonella on hen farms.
The deadline for pre-proposal submission is November 7. More information is available on the USPOULTRY website.
The USPOULTRY Board Research Initiative was created by the boards of USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation to address current issues facing the poultry industry. The USPOULTRY Board Research Initiative operates alongside the current USPOULTRY research program and augments the great success of the existing program by focusing additional resources toward defined areas of research.
USPOULTRY and its Foundation operate a comprehensive research program incorporating all phases of poultry and egg production and processing. Since the inception of the research program, USPOULTRY has reinvested more than $25 million dollars into the industry in the form of research grants, with the International Poultry Expo as the primary source for the funding. More than 50 universities and federal and state facilities have received grants over the years.
