Food Protection Trends - May/June 2022 - 196

former are roadside operations that provide whole chicken
and poultry parts on request. The supermarkets sell only
chilled poultry supplied by imports and local commercial
processing plants that are routinely inspected by the National
Veterinary Public Health Unit (48). Products purchased from
cottage poultry plucking operations had a higher frequency
of Salmonella at 20.5% (45/220) than supermarkets at 8.3%
(19/230). The frequency of isolation of Salmonella from
cottage poultry processors was 26 (22.4%) of 116 nonchilled
whole chickens, 17 (23.0%) of 74 nonchilled chicken parts,
1 (7.1%) of 14 chilled whole chickens, and 1 (10.0%) of
10 chilled chicken parts (48). For supermarket samples,
Salmonella isolation frequency was 4 (19.0%) of 21 chilled
whole chickens, 3 (8.1%) of 37 chilled chicken parts, 0 (0.0%)
of 15) frozen whole chickens, and 12 (7.6%) of 157 frozen
chicken parts (48). Generally, it was observed that nonchilled
chicken parts and cottage poultry products had a higher
frequency of contamination than chilled whole chicken and
supermarkets samples. The likely source of contamination in
the plucking operations was the water bath used for chilling,
which was not changed frequently, thus allowing the buildup
of pathogens during the manual handling of chickens. On
the other hand, poultry sold in supermarkets was processed
mechanically; hence, there is less handling, enhanced sanitary
practices, and consequently, lower exposure to potential
pathogens. The Salmonella serotypes identified in this study
were mainly Kentucky (25 of 97, 25.7%) and Javiana (22 of 97,
22.6%) (48).
Salmonella in eggs and egg products
Eggs are part of the cuisine in countries throughout
the Caribbean, but their safety can be compromised with
pathogens such as Salmonella. In Trinidad and Tobago,
Salmonella was detected in 14 (7.6%) of 184 egg contents and
7 (3.8%) of 184 eggshells (1). The prevalence of Salmonella
in eggs was 13% (6/46) of 46 from farms, 19.4% (6/31) of 31
from shopping malls, and 11.2% (12/107) from other retailers
(1). Salmonella Enteritidis had the highest frequency of the
eight serovars detected, suggesting that the contamination was
mostly vertically from the laying hens (1).
A survey of chicken layer farms in Trinidad and Tobago,
Grenada, and Saint Lucia revealed that contamination most
likely came from the farm environment because an analysis of
imported samples at ports of entry did not reveal Salmonella
(3). For contaminated eggs on farms, Salmonella was isolated
from the shells but not the yolk and albumen, suggesting that
transfer was mostly horizontal during laying and processing.
Additionally, the presence of Salmonella in poultry litter
supports the notion that contamination may have come from
the environment (3). The larger farms, those consisting of
more than 10,000 birds, which were more frequent in Trinidad
and Tobago, had higher contamination rates than the farms
with less than that number, suggesting that higher stocking
density is related to a higher probability of persistence and
196 Food Protection Trends May/June
spread of Salmonella on egg farms (3). The overall isolation
frequency was 40% (14/35) for the three countries, ranging
from 26.1 to 77.8%. Poultry feed may have also contributed
to contamination because 2 (6.5%) of 31 samples of the feed
in Trinidad was found to be Salmonella-positive (3). The
presence of Salmonella in 23 (7%) of 328 of broken eggs and
3 (1%) of 435 intact eggs in Jamaica was also attributed to
environmental contamination (18), reinforcing the need for
improved sanitary practices during production. In 2009, in
response to an outbreak of Salmonella in egg-laying farms in
Barbados, tests indicated that the frequency of Salmonella in
the environment of farms was high, with 19 (73.1%) of 26
farms testing positive for the pathogen. The environmental
samples evaluated included dust and fecal matter. The
positivity rate was lower for eggs (4/26, 15.4%), and as
in Trinidad (3), the larger farms had a higher frequency
of positives than those from smaller ones. However, in
Barbados, smaller farms were more likely to adhere to stricter
regulatory sanitation procedures (7), so a generalization
cannot be made regarding the prevalence and size of
operation across the region with the limited available data.
Consumption of raw or undercooked eggs has been known
to cause salmonellosis in several countries in the region
(13). In Trinidad and Tobago, homemade products, such as
eggnog, ice cream, cake batter, and ponche-de-crème, using
egg as one of the main ingredients resulted in several cases
of infection (43). In these outbreaks, Salmonella was isolated
from 15 of the 33 food samples implicated by the individual's
food consumption history. It was also determined that the
eggs were purchased from vendors operating in open street
markets without refrigeration. These cases coincided with
festive seasons, such as Christmas, when people increased the
production of homemade dishes (43).
An effort to determine the relationship between the egg
industry and the incidence of salmonellosis in the Englishspeaking
Caribbean by using a survey yielded information
from 11 of the 27 countries contacted. Of these, only six
countries reported foodborne illness cases, and four of them
are members of CARICOM: Dominica, Grenada, Saint
Lucia, and Suriname (2). Although none of the foodborne
illnesses were directly associated with eggs, S. Enteritidis
and S. Typhimurium were among the pathogens causing the
most illness cases. Although Trinidad and Tobago did not
report any foodborne illness, only that country and Saint
Lucia routinely sample and test eggs imported into their
jurisdictions. The lack of testing in the rest of the surveyed
countries, including CARICOM members, could mean that
the presence of Salmonella in eggs is largely underestimated
in the region.
Salmonella in foodservice and ready-to-eat foods
In a study in Trinidad and Tobago on the bacteriological
quality of several popular food items offered for sale by street
vendors and sale outlets, Salmonella was detected only in black
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