Poultry farmers have an opportunity to make dramatic improvements to their salmonella
biosecurity, according to new tests that show the effectiveness of disinfectants under practical conditions.
A report produced by APHA (Animal and Plant Health Agency) and published in Veterinary
Microbiology, has revealed significant differences between commercially-available disinfectants.
The report can be found at: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03079457.2010.537303
The report shows disinfectants’ effectiveness was altered according to whether they were used on dry, porous
surfaces or in wet situations in the presence of organic matter. Whether the organic matter came from poultry faeces even had an effect. The tests also gave indications on how well different
disinfectants managed to break through biofilm as its builds up.
Chlorocresol-based disinfectants provided consistently high rates of Salmonella killing in both wet and dry tests. Formaldehyde-containing disinfectants showed very high efficacy in the dry test but were less effective in the shorter wet test, whereas the efficacy of glutaraldehyde without formaldehyde was variable between products. Other chemical classes tested (quaternary ammonium compounds, amphoteric surfactants, iodine preparations, peroxygens and a substituted phenol blend) were only moderately effective.