Short-term and long-term effects of pathogen reduction interventions on salmonellosis from whole chickens

The current study was undertaken to evaluate short-term and long-term effects of pathogen reduction interventions on food safety. This was accomplished using a model that predicts risk of salmonellosis from whole chickens produced by different scenarios. Interventions investigated were a 50% pathogen reduction before retail (PR), a 50% pathogen reduction at serving by consumer education (CE), and a 75% pathogen reduction by PR + CE. Long-term effects were simulated by reducing consumer resistance by an amount equal to reductions in pathogen exposure caused by interventions in the short-term. In the short-term, risk of salmonellosis was reduced (p < 0.05) from 0.42 to 0.21, 0.23, and 0.13 cases per 100,000 consumers by PR, CE, and PR + CE, respectively. However, in the long-term, risk of salmonellosis was increased (p < 0.05) from 0.42 to 1.03, 1.08, and 2.20 cases per 100,000 consumers by PR, CE, and PR + CE, respectively. These results indicated that food safety benefits of pathogen reduction interventions reversed with time because of a decrease in consumer resistance to salmonellosis.