Keith Nunes of MeatPoultry.com reports that some commercial poultry processors have begun using a bacterial culture developed at the University of Arkansas (U.A.) that may reduce the levels of pathogenic Salmonella and Campylobacter in live poultry. The probiotic is helping processors increase the safety of food products and poultry science researcher Billy Hargis believes his research team can do more.
“We have not bothered to patent this specific culture because we don’t think this is the best we can do,” said Mr. Hargis, who is working on the Food Safety Consortium project in the U.A. Division of Agriculture. “We think we can find better cultures. This is just the best we have found so far. We think we can make it more effective.”
The culture is unique because unlike previous cultures that have been tested, this is a “defined culture” — entirely derived from a single defined group of bacteria.
“They’re known organisms, specific isolates that are well characterized,” Mr. Hargis said.…

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