HOMESTEAD NOTES
Salmonella Safety Tips
Effective Measures to Prevent an Outbreak
By Christy Caplan
Backyard chickens can be a delightful addition to your household, providing fresh eggs and a taste of farm life. However, keeping chickens also comes with responsibilities, particularly regarding health and safety.
Salmonella is a common concern among poultry keepers. According to the Centers for Disease Control( CDC), backyard poultry, such as chickens and ducks, can carry salmonella germs even if they look healthy and clean. These germs can easily spread to anything in the areas where the poultry live and roam. Chickens become infected with this disease from various sources, such as contaminated feed, water or their environment. With that in mind, you can get sick from touching your backyard poultry and then touching your mouth or food. Wash your hands!
Poultry expert Yuko Sato, a doctor of veterinary medicine with an MS and DACPV from Iowa State
University, told AcreageLife that most salmonellas are considered normal bacteria for chickens and other poultry species.
“ A few bad ones( e. g., salmonella pullorum and fowl typhoid) are host-adapted and will make chickens sick. There are several strains veterinarians worry about for food safety but most do not cause health issues in chickens,” she said.
Human Health Risks
The frequency of bacteria in eggs from backyard chickens is unpredictable by anyone. According to the CDC, as of May 16, 2024, 109 people were infected with one of the outbreak strains of salmonella from 29 states and 33( 40 %) had been hospitalized.
These outbreaks were linked to backyard chicken, so having biosecurity in place is crucial, especially for some people with immune-compromised illnesses, seniors and young children. Fortunately, illnesses in a healthy person require eating a large number of bacteria.
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