AUTHOR=Plumblee Lawrence Jodie R. , Cudnik Denice , Oladeinde Adelumola 

TITLE=Bacterial Detection and Recovery From Poultry Litter

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Microbiology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/microbiology/articles/10.3389/fmicb.2021.803150

DOI=10.3389/fmicb.2021.803150

ISSN=1664-302X

ABSTRACT=<p>The level of pathogens in poultry litter used for raising broiler chickens is critical to the overall health of a broiler chicken flock and food safety. Therefore, it is imperative that methods used for determining bacterial concentration in litter are accurate and reproducible across studies. In this perspective, we discuss the shortcomings associated with current methods used for bacterial quantification and detection from litter and assess the efficacy of one method for pathogen and commensal (<italic>Campylobacter</italic>, <italic>Salmonella</italic>, <italic>Escherichia coli</italic>, and <italic>Enterococcus</italic> spp.) recovery. The limit of quantitation and detection for this method differed between pathogens, and the recovery rate (∼138–208%) was higher for <italic>Salmonella</italic>, <italic>E. coli</italic>, and <italic>Enterococcus</italic> compared to <italic>Campylobacter</italic> (24%). Our results suggest that pathogen recovery from litter is highly variable and pathogen concentrations need to be reported in dry weight before comparisons can be made between studies.</p>