Human Health Safety of Animal Feeds workshop

Human Health Safety of Animal Feeds workshop

Approximately 150 scientists attended the "Human Health Safety of Animal Feeds" workshop at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on January 23, 2004, to discuss issues pertaining to Salmonella-contaminated animal feed and their impact on public health. The workshop followed an article published in Clinical Infectious Diseases, which provided three recommendations to reduce human foodborne disease caused by Salmonella-contaminated animal feed (1). The first recommendation stressed the need for microbial contamination surveillance to determine how feed contaminants, particularly Salmonella, pass through the food chain. The second recommendation was to establish hazard analysis and critical control point programs to minimize Salmonella contamination by identifying and controlling sources of feed contamination. The third recommendation was to implement the Salmonella-negative standard in the feed industry. The purpose of the workshop was to elicit discussion on these and other recommendations concerning the human health safety of animal feed.


A variety of organizations were represented at the workshop, including international government agencies, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the United States Food and Drag Administration (FDA), and consumer groups. Speakers offered perspectives on bacterial contamination of animal teed, including examples of human illnesses traced to Salmonella-contaminated feed, and data showing how contaminated animal feed contributes to human foodborne illness.