LAUSR

Salmonella can be isolated from animal food, ingredients, and animal food manufacturing surfaces. There is limited data regarding the sanitation of animal food manufacturing surfaces. The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the effects of nine chemical treatments to reduce Salmonella Typhimurium contamination on various manufacturing surfaces. This experiment was a 9 × 5 factorial with nine chemical treatments and five surfaces. The nine chemical treatments included: 1) no inoculation or sanitation treatment (negative control), and those inoculated with Salmonella Typhimurium and treated with 2) no sanitation treatment (positive control), 3) ground corn, 4) liquid commercial formaldehyde, 5) liquid food-grade sanitizer, 6) liquid medium chain fatty acid blend of caprylic, capronic and capric acids (MCFA), 7) dry commercial calcium propionate, 8) dry commercial acidulant, and 9) dry commercial benzoic acid. The five surfaces included 1) stainless steel, 2) plastic, 3) polypropylene tote bag, 4) rubber belt, and 5) rubber tire. Plastic had greater Salmonella in the positive control than the polypropylene tote bag, with other surfaces being intermediate ( P < 0.05). Surfaces treated with formaldehyde had no detectable Salmonella after treatment, and surfaces treated MCFA had at least a 4-log reduction compared to the control ( P < 0.05). The dry acidulant was the most effective dry sanitizer tested, but had no impact on Salmonella concentration on rubber tires ( P < 0.05). While most effective in this experiment, liquid sanitizers have limitations in a dry, bulk systems. In summary, formaldehyde, food-grade sanitizer and MCFA, were the most effective chemical treatments to reduce Salmonella surface contamination. Surface type can also influence Salmonella mitigation strategies specifically stainless steel and plastic which can be more challenging sanitation within animal food facilities.