Short‐term and long‐term effects of pathogen reduction interventions on salmonellosis from whole chickens

The current study was undertaken to evaluate short‐term and long‐term effects of pathogen reduction interventions on food safety. This was accomplished using a model that predicts risk of salmonellosis from whole chickens produced by different scenarios. Interventions investigated were a 50% pathogen reduction before retail (PR), a 50% pathogen reduction at serving by consumer education (CE), and a 75% pathogen reduction by PR + CE. Long‐term effects were simulated by reducing consumer resistance by an amount equal to reductions in pathogen exposure caused by interventions in the short‐term. In the short‐term, risk of salmonellosis was reduced (p < 0.05) from 0.42 to 0.21, 0.23, and 0.13 cases per 100,000 consumers by PR, CE, and PR + CE, respectively. However, in the long‐term, risk of salmonellosis was increased (p < 0.05) from 0.42 to 1.03, 1.08, and 2.20 cases per 100,000 consumers by PR, CE, and PR + CE, respectively. These results indicated that food safety benefits of pathogen reduction interventions reversed with time because of a decrease in consumer resistance to salmonellosis.