Human infections with Salmonella Enteritidis are often attributed to the consumption of contaminated eggs, so the prevalence of this pathogen in egg-laying poultry is an important public health risk factor. Numerous and complex environmental influences on Salmonella persistence and transmission are ...

Eggs contaminated with Salmonella Enteritidis are leading sources of human salmonellosis, but Salmonella Heidelberg and Salmonella Typhimurium are also egg-associated pathogens. The management practices and housing facilities characterizing different systems for housing commercial egg flocks can...

Epidemiologic analyses have linked the frequency of human infections with Salmonella enterica subspecies enterica serovar Enteritidis to the consumption of contaminated eggs and thus to the prevalence of this pathogen in commercial egg-laying flocks. Contamination of the edible contents of eggs by ...

Contaminated eggs produced by infected commercial laying flocks are often implicated as sources of human infections with Salmonella Enteritidis, but Salmonella serovars Heidelberg and Typhimurium have also been associated with egg-transmitted illness. Contamination of the edible contents of eggs is ...

This chapter reviews the effect of housing system on egg quality and safety. Social pressures resulting from concerns about hen welfare have resulted in this shift towards cage-free production, although this production system does not result in a product of higher quality. The chapter reviews the...

Within aviary systems, open litter areas are provided to allow hens to express a more robust behavioral repertoire. However, data is limited on the influence forage substrates have on environmental and egg microbiology. The objective of this study was to examine the impact of forage substrates on...

The environmental sampling of layer housing systems is essential to identifying potential pathogens that are of concern to human health. To identify the natural occurrence of pathogens (Listeria, Campylobacter, and Salmonella) at various locations in a cage-free aviary housing system, swabs were...

The prevalence of Salmonella Enteritidis in commercial egg-laying flocks is a prominent public health concern because contaminated eggs cause human illness. Deposition of this pathogen inside eggs results from bacterial colonization of reproductive tissues in infected hens. Environmental conditions ...

Concerns regarding the welfare of laying hens have led to the ban of conventional battery cages in Europe from 2012 onward and to the development of alternative housing systems that allow hens to perform a broader range of natural behaviors. Limited information is available about the consequences...