Rapid quantitative microbiological risk assessment of Salmonella in prepared dishes from broiler sources in Zhejiang Province

ObjectiveTo analyze the contamination of Salmonella in prepared dishes from broilers in Zhejiang， China， and to evaluate the risk of Salmonella infection in the population.MethodsFrom 2020 to 2023， quantitative detection of Salmonella in prepared chicken dishes from retail sources in Zhejiang was conducted. Based on the results of the 2024 survey on the consumption behavior of prepared dishes among urban residents， the Salmonella risk assessment of prepared chicken dishes was carried out using the rapid quantitative microbiological risk assessment （sQMRA）.ResultsThe detection rate of Salmonella in prepared chicken dishes from retail sources in Zhejiang 2020—2023 was 13.3% （44/330）. The annual expected number of cases of Salmonella infection among Zhejiang residents due to prepared chicken dishes was 1 594， with a probability of illness at 3.11×10-5， which was slightly lower than the number of cases reported by the monitoring system.ConclusionGreat attention need to be paid to health risk posed by Salmonella. Cross-contamination control should be strengthened in transportation， retail， breeding， and processing stage of prepared dishes made from broiler chickens. Simultaneously， supervision and management of such products in the retail sector should be enhanced， and a monitoring and early warning network for foodborne diseases should be established， and therefore， systematically reduced the risk of foodborne diseases related to Salmonella.