Monitoring hygienic measures for decreasing Salmonella occurrence in Turkey Barns

The objective of this study was to evaluate a series of measures aimed at reducing the occurrence of Salmonella in turkeys bred in Spain, during all the stages prior to the slaughterhouse stage. The following measures were evaluated: (a) control in feed production; B) cleaning and disinfection of farms (by thermo-fogging or spraying, using three disinfectants); c) treatment of litter using Ca(OH)(2); d) treatment of drinking water with an acidifying mixture based on formic acid, orthophosphoric acid and propionic acid; and (e) cleaning and disinfection of boxes, cages and vehicles. All the measures tested proved to be effective, especially the control of feed production and the treatments for cleaning and disinfecting farms, boxes, cages and vehicles, which resulted in the absence of Salmonella in all the samples tested. In the case of disinfectants 3 and 4, the results were not statistically significant. Treatment of the litter reduced the percentage presence of Salmonella by almost 50% on untreated rearing farms, and on fattening farms by 17.5%. In terms of the treatment of drinking water, the treatment carried out in both rearing and fattening farms decreased the occurrence of Salmonella (34.5% and 36.2%, respectively) with respect to the percentages obtained on farms prior to treatment.