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As Demand for Organic Poultry Rises, Food Scientists Begin Safety Study
The dramatic rise over the last decade in the popularity of organic poultry - primarily turkeys and chickens - has prompted researchers from several universities to begin an extensive food safety study of the production and processes that bring organic birds into the market. The research, funded by a three-year Department of Agriculture grant of about $600,000, is not based on any known safety problems in the organic poultry industry, but on a lack of data about current practices, said University of Arkansas bacteriologist and food safety scientist Steven Ricke, head of the research team.
The goal of the research, he said, is to develop what is known in the food industry as a set of "Good Agricultural Practices" that will ensure the safety of the organic industry. Because natural and organic poultry production does not use antibiotics or other medications, Ricke said, a set of such practices is "even more important."
The demand for organic poultry has grown by 20 percent or more per year over the past decade and promises to keep increasing, yet the sale of organic birds accounts for only about 2 percent of the total poultry market today and remains primarily in the realm of independent small farms and agricultural operations.
Organic and natural poultry (also known as "free range" or "pasture grown") is currently produced and processed in smaller facilities than conventional poultry, and that is part of the appeal to consumers. "However, small production is usually not integrated, providing less opportunity for the control of product quality, including food safety, as in large-scale, integrated production," Ricke said. Integrated production typically involves a system that includes hatching, raising and feeding the chickens , and then processing and transporting raw materials and products.
Organic certification by the federal government requires that the birds must be raised with no antibiotics, fed organic feed and given access to the outdoors. Organic poultry is typically smaller and much more expensive than non-organic birds, but organic birds free of the antibiotics and raised in more natural conditions are viewed by many as safer to eat.
Ricke is quick to note he doesn't dispute that view. "I don't have a preference one way or the other" he said. "I'm strictly coming at this from a science standpoint." Ricke, director of the center for food safety at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, will coordinate 13 research specialists on four teams, including scientists from Texas A&M University, West Virginia University, Cornell and Purdue Universities, and a scientist with the National Center for Appropriate Technology, an organization that helps develop sustainable energy and food projects at a community level..
The teams will "address the complex nature of the problems associated with food safety in organic and natural poultry," he said. The agricultural extension specialists involved in the research "have existing close relationships with growers and processors statewide and nationally, as well as food safety education and communication specialists who can address the complex issues to the grower, processor, and consumer and retail industries."
The impact of the research could be "huge," he said, "as it has the potential to reach large and small-scale producers, processors, policymakers and stakeholders who need assistance in food safety management." Research findings will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals, he said.
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