iuii P' Iti try 'o Perm State Poulby Pointers : ' SE REDUCTION PROGRAM John H. Schwartz, Ph.D. Lancaster County Extension Director Salmonella enteritidis (SE) is a major public health issue in the United States. Eggs have been identified as a source of SE in human outbreaks. During the past four years, Pen nsylvania and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) have spent a lot of resour ces in trying to identify the risk factors associated with SE. Several risk factors have been identified. These include improper food handling, improper refrigeration, rodents, and poor sanitation. Everyone has a role to play if we are to minimize the outbreaks of SE. The farmer must maintain an excellent rodent control program, refrigerate eggs promptly, main tain SE-negative environments, and monitor the status of SE on the farm. The egg processor must wash and sanitize eggs correctly, reduce the number of crack eggs sold, rotate stocks in retail outlets, and make sure eggs are maintained Courage Integrity Greg SUPERIOR COURT Agricull under refrigeration. The food ser vice industry must make sure food is prepared under strict food safety guidelines and properly cooked. There is a need for a producer program that will reduce (he level of SE at the farm. The goal of this program should be to significantly reduce the number of SE positive eggs reaching the consumer. This program would emphasize the management practices that should significantly reduce the level of SE in the production environment and tests to monitor the SE status of eggs produced. Based on the experiences of the SE Pilot Project, the project team is proposing a SE monitoring prog ram for egg producers. The prog ram will be a joint effort between the industry, the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, and USDA. The goal of this program would be to gradually reduce the level of SE in the production envi ronment and thus reduce the poten tial for SE outbreaks. The proposed program would require from producers: • To conduct a rodent control program. • To test the environment of each house for SE sometime between reaching peak production Republican for and being sent as spent fowl. If the flock is molted, the environment will be retested sometime between again reaching peak production and depopulation. • Houses with a positive SE environment would be required to clean and disinfect prior to place ment of a new flock. • Replacement pullets should have been tested as chicks and their environment tested between 12-16 weeks of age. The pullet houses should be engaged in a rodent control program. Egg testing would be done when either an election was made to do egg testing in lieu of environmen tal testing at peak production of either a one cycle or molted flock or environmental testing at peak production was positive. Food safety is a major consumer issue of the 19905. The consumer is demanding that someone deve lop a program to reduce the risk of food poisoning. By taking the leadership and developing a program based on scientific research, the industry will be insuring a reasonable set of guidelines are developed. This program will give the industry good public relations, reduce pro ducer liability, reduce insurance costs, and improve flock performance. For more information or com ments on this program, contact Dr. David Kradel, SE Pilot Project. 1352 Harrisburg Pike, Lancaster PA 17601, (717) 399-8810. By working together, we will insure the consumer receives the highest quality eggs possible. Feather Profs Footnote: "Food safety is everyone's responsibility." Paid for by Pennsylvanians for Independent Justice DOVER, Del. It’s planting season. Farmers and gardeners are looking for good deals on seed, of ten from local growers. However, producers who sell seed must meet criteria set forth by the Department of Agricul ture’s Seed Laboratory, and buy ers and sellers should be aware of the requirements. According to Seed Lab Admin istrator Dick Goerger, anyone who sells seed grown from a crop or resells seed purchased else where must meet labeling and ad vertising requirements. An analy sis tag containing the following information must be attached to each bag of seed offered for sale: • Kind and variety of seed • Lot number or identification number • State or country of origin • Percentage of weight of all weed seeds • Percentage of weight of other crop seeds • Percentage of weight of inert matter • Percentage of germination and date of test • Percentages of hard seed if present • Full name and address of sell er or labeler. In addition, all seed treated with chemicals that improve germina tion or control disease must have a label that identifies the chemical used. Depending on the toxicity of We believe REED will be a tough no-nonsense judge Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 8, 1993-C5 Farmers Cautioned Against Illegal Seed VOTE May 18th Traditional Family Values Sales the product, a caution or poison statement may be required, Goer ger said. These labeling requirements are designed to protect buyers from getting less than what they pay Tor, Goerger said. Sellers also must be careful selling seed varieties that are pat ented and protected by the Plant Variety Protection Act. This federal regulation prohibits the sale of patented seed varieties without written permission of the variety owners. Goerger explain ed, however, that some varieties covered under a portion of the Protection Act can be reproduced and sold for seed by variety name and as a class of certified seed. Many new protected varieties have come on the market in recent years. Goerger anticipates the trend will continue as the high cost of developing new, improved plant varieties makes it necessary to patent them in order to protect the investment. Producers caught selling seed illegally can be prosecuted for pa tent infringement by the patent owner. Produce/s with questions re garding proper labeling of seed or what crop varieties are covered under the Plant Variety Protection Act should contact Dick Gocrger or Lisa Jones at the Department of Agriculture Seed Lab at (302) 739-4811 or (800) 282-8685.
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