From Elsevier’s World Poultry (Vol. 17, No. 5, 2001):
UK - A chemical that makes chickens grow larger and faster also suppresses the bacteria that have become the leading cause of food poisoning, researchers in Britain have found.
Fresie Fernandez a microbiologist from the University of Bristol, found an enzyme called xylanase can dramatically limit numbers of bacterium Campylobacter jejuni in the chicken’s gut. Almost all chickens carry the bacteria without becoming ill, however, it can pass on to humans if the meat has not been cooked properly.
In Britain and the US, Campylobacter-infected poultry has been the number one cause for food poisoning.
Fernandez and her colleagues fed Campylobacter-infected chicks wheat laced with 0.1% xylanase, and found after one month, that the bugs in the chickens’ guts fell by up to 99%. The enzyme makes the mucous lining of the chicken’s stomachs thinner and less sticky, allowing nutrients to be absorbed more effectively and helping the birds to grow.
The researchers suspect that the bugs are flushed from the chickens’ systems more quickly when the mucous lining is thinner and more fluid.
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