Food Safety Matters – Elanco: Diagnostics and the Role of Testing in Ensuring Food Safety

Podcast by Food Safety Magazine
Episode Date: June 3, 2025

Overview of the Episode

This special episode dives into the vital role of diagnostics and testing within the poultry industry, focusing on how these tools support both food safety and disease management. Erik Adrienne Bloom speaks with Dr. Savannah Applegate, Senior Consultant at Elanco Poultry Food Safety, about how diagnostics inform decision-making, intervention controls, and risk assessment for pathogens like Salmonella. Dr. Applegate shares practical insights into integrating diagnostics into poultry operations, establishing baselines, the science behind serotyping and quantification, and how Elanco supports the industry in improving food safety outcomes.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Foundational Role of Diagnostics in Poultry Food Safety

[01:25–03:29]

• Diagnostics are central to understanding pathogen presence and trends in poultry production.
• Routine testing enables producers to assess interventions, monitor biosecurity, and meet regulatory expectations—especially for pathogens like Salmonella.
• Data collected helps inform decisions that can mitigate consumer risk, allowing for proactive disease management.

“Diagnostics play a crucial role in food safety and disease management as they are part of the foundation of the poultry industry.”
— Dr. Savannah Applegate [01:37]

2. Common Misconceptions and Industry Challenges

[03:29–05:18]

• On-farm diagnostic testing is not required by USDA FSIS, leading to uneven adoption.
• Environmental sampling (feather rinses, boot swabs, etc.) provides critical risk assessments but is underutilized.
• Proper application of diagnostic data allows strategic harvest order—processing lower-risk flocks first—maximizing the effectiveness of plant-level interventions.

“...on farm testing can provide a snapshot of pathogens…that information…can be given to the processing facility and harvest order can be rearranged...”
— Dr. Savannah Applegate [04:14]

3. First Steps for New Adopters: Establishing the “Normal”

[05:18–07:27]

• Companies should start by mapping current processes and collecting baseline data on pathogens or indicator organisms.
• Visualization and statistical process control help identify and act on deviations in real-time.
• This data-driven approach enables timely corrective actions and more effective biosecurity measures.

“I would say the first step in integrating an effective testing protocol...would be understanding what your normal looks like.”
— Dr. Savannah Applegate [05:39]

4. Serotyping vs. Quantification: Why Both Matter

[07:27–11:58]

• Quantification provides the number of pathogens present; serotyping identifies which types.
• Both are critical for evaluating vaccine effectiveness, especially when using strain-specific interventions (e.g., Salmonella Typhimurium vaccines).
• Shifting the Salmonella population from invasive (e.g., Typhimurium, Enteritidis) to less harmful strains (e.g., Kentucky) can greatly reduce risk in final products.

“If we can shift [Salmonella] from a more invasive Salmonella...to something a little more mild like Salmonella Kentucky that is less invasive...those in-plant interventions can take care of that.”
— Dr. Savannah Applegate [10:37]

• Vaccines, when effective, can reduce Salmonella in parts by up to 50%, underscoring diagnostics’ value in tracking these shifts.

5. Elanco's Diagnostic Support for Food Safety Outcomes

[11:58–14:22]

• Elanco offers a "60-day diagnostic plan" to establish a baseline for both serotyping and quantification, even if a company hasn't previously collected such data.
• This approach enables tailored interventions and ongoing monitoring, with data-backed validation of outcomes.
• Real-time data collection allows rapid adjustments to interventions, ensuring continual improvement in food safety.

“I think that’s really important to be able to not only say, yes, this intervention's working, but show me the data. How well is it working?”
— Dr. Savannah Applegate [13:36]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On diagnostics as the industry’s foundation:
  “Diagnostics help producers understand what is present in their samples, how widespread, and through the use of tools like interventions and biosecurity, evaluate if those are working effectively.”
  — Dr. Savannah Applegate [01:40]

• On data-driven corrective action:
  “I would highly recommend that a company that is testing use some way to visualize their data...so they can make real time decisions and corrective actions to reduce and correct that deviation.”
  — Dr. Savannah Applegate [06:36]

• On the value of tracking both serotypes and counts:
  “Serotyping data versus quantification data...they tell us two different things...when thinking about poultry vaccines, both are critical.”
  — Dr. Savannah Applegate [07:51]

• On Elanco’s diagnostic partnership:
  “Elanco would come in and evaluate...create a baseline...then after that baseline has been developed, evaluate interventions...do evaluations over time to ensure that that intervention is working effectively.”
  — Dr. Savannah Applegate [12:30]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Introduction to Dr. Applegate and program overview: [00:10–01:10]
• The role and importance of diagnostics in poultry: [01:25–03:29]
• Industry misconceptions and the value of on-farm testing: [03:29–05:18]
• Integrating diagnostics and analyzing “normal” data: [05:18–07:27]
• Understanding serotyping vs. quantification: [07:27–11:58]
• Elanco’s diagnostic programs and continuous improvement: [11:58–14:22]

Episode Takeaways

• Diagnostics form the backbone of effective food safety and disease management in poultry production.
• Both quantification and serotyping are necessary for a comprehensive risk assessment and for evaluating intervention strategies, especially vaccines.
• Data visualization and process control facilitate proactive, rather than reactive, food safety management.
• Elanco partners with the poultry industry to establish robust diagnostics programs, enabling real-time resilience in food safety operations.

For more information on Elanco’s food safety offerings, visit: elanco.com