Can animal welfare have an impact on food safety? A study in the poultry production chain

Abstract Background Animal welfare is a major issue in the production of food of animal origin. A project funded by the Italian Ministry of Health was carried out in order to collect scientific evidence that animal welfare is not only an ethical issue, but should also be related to food safety. Methods The project was carried out along an Italian integrated poultry production chain. Animal welfare was measured at farm in 13 broiler chicken batches, including 2 organic, using Welfare Quality®, an animal- and resource-based internationally recognised protocol. Samples for the detection and enumeration of Campylobacter, Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenes were taken at different levels, from the live animal (faeces at farm and after transport) to the end product (caecal content and carcass skin at slaughterhouse), with a total of 2,080 samples. Strains were deeply characterised (serotyping, PFGE). Results Higher welfare scores were reported in organic batches. Transports to the slaughterhouse longer than 1 hour were associated to increased Campylobacter prevalence. Significantly lower Campylobacter concentrations both in faeces and carcass (P