Case studies in food safety control in the production of fresh poultry meat: effective control of Salmonella in Sweden

Swedish control of Salmonella in poultry is very successful, with rare findings of Salmonella in meat and almost no human cases linked to Swedish poultry meat. This chapter presents the Swedish system for controlling Salmonella in poultry, with the aim of highlighting insights which may be helpful for the development of Salmonella control programmes in other countries. The chapter begins by reviewing of the history of Salmonella control in Sweden, from the Alvesta Salmonella outbreak of 1953 through to the national Salmonella control programme introduced in 2010. It then turns to the current Salmonella control program, which aims to deliver Salmonella-free food using the following measures: preventing and eliminating Salmonella contamination in poultry feed; preventing infection of the breeding pyramid; surveillance of the production chain at critical control points; biosecurity on the production site and, whenever Salmonella is found, taking action to remove it from the food chain.