About

Dr. Aaron S. Kiess earned his bachelor’s, master’s, and Ph.D. degrees from West Virginia University, specializing in Animal and Veterinary Science and Genetics and Developmental Biology. He has over 13 years of experience working with poultry companies to address pre- and post-harvest food safety issues. As a professor in the Department of Poultry Science at Mississippi State University, he contributed to research and education in poultry science. In July 2021, Dr. Kiess joined the Prestage Department of Poultry Science at NC State University as the Braswell Distinguished Professor, where he now collaborates with individuals in the layer industry to assist them in solving challenges they face.

Research topics

• Veterinary medicine
• Biology
• Medicine
• Biotechnology
• Food science
• Microbiology
• Internal medicine
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• An approach to alternative strategies to control avian coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis

  The Journal of Applied Poultry Research · 2020 · 155 citations

  • Biology
  • Biotechnology
  • Veterinary medicine

  Consumer demands for chickens raised without the use of antibiotics, legislative restrictions, and trade opportunities have encouraged many integrators within the poultry industry to raise poultry without antibiotic growth promoters (AGPs) and ionophores. However, with the removal of AGPs and ionophores, the incidence of enteric diseases such as coccidiosis and necrotic enteritis (NE), caused by Eimeria spp. and Clostridium perfringens, respectively, have increased, thereby gaining the attention of the poultry industry to look for alternative strategies to improve bird's health. Coccidiosis and NE are 2 major enteric disease concerns in broilers because of their association with decreased performance, increased mortality, reduced welfare, and a higher risk of poultry product contamination. Necrotic enteritis is often induced after a coccidiosis infection and any factor that causes stress, reduces immunity, and disturbs intestinal ecosystem. Nutritional mitigation strategies have been widely used to reduce such enteric diseases with a greater focus on balanced gut health. Some of the nutritional interventions that have shown potential for improving gut health while reducing overall disease include the use of probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, essential oils, vaccination, and natural phytochemical extracts in poultry diets. A better understanding of the relationship between nutritional strategies, coccidiosis, and NE is crucial to improve gut health in the absence of AGPs in poultry production. This review will provide information and updates pertaining to current research focusing on several nutritional strategies that have helped to alleviate coccidiosis and NE, by modulating performance and gut health aspects.

  DOI

• Avian Pathogenic Escherichia coli and Clostridium perfringens: Challenges in No Antibiotics Ever Broiler Production and Potential Solutions

  Microorganisms · 2020 · 85 citations

  • Microbiology
  • Biology
  • Biotechnology

  are two important pathogenic bacteria readily found in the broiler environment and result in annual billion-dollar losses from colibacillosis, gangrenous dermatitis, and necrotic enteritis. The broiler industry is in search of non-antibiotic alternatives including novel vaccines, prebiotics, probiotics, and housing management strategies to mitigate production losses due to these diseases. This review provides an overview of the broiler industry and antibiotic free production, current challenges, and emerging research on antibiotic alternatives to reduce pathogenic microbial presence and improve bird health.

  DOI

• Prevalence of Salmonella enterica on poultry processing equipment after completion of sanitization procedures

  Poultry Science · 2020 · 59 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding
  • Veterinary medicine
  • Biology
  • Food science

  Salmonella is a poultry-borne pathogen that causes illness throughout the world. Consequently, it is critical to control Salmonella during the process of converting broilers to poultry meat. Sanitization of a poultry processing facility, including processing equipment, is a crucial control measure that is utilized by poultry integrators. However, prevalence of Salmonella on equipment after sanitization and its potential risk to food safety has not been evaluated thoroughly. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the persistence of Salmonella on poultry processing equipment before and following cleaning and sanitization procedure. A total of 15 locations within 6 commercial processing plants were sampled at 3 time points: (A) after processing; (B) after cleaning; and (C) after sanitization, on 3 separate visits for a total of 135 samples per plant. Salmonella-positive isolates were recovered from samples using the United States Department of Agriculture MLG 4.09 conventional method. Presumptive Salmonella colonies were subjected to biochemical tests for confirmation. Salmonella isolates recovered after sanitization were serotyped and tested for the presence of specific virulence genes. A completely randomized design with a 6 × 3 × 15 factorial arrangement was utilized to analyze the results for Salmonella prevalence between processing plants. Means were separated using Fishers protected least significant difference when P ≤ 0.05. For Salmonella prevalence between processing plants, differences (P < 0.0001) were observed in the 6 plants tested where the maximum and minimum prevalence was 29.6 and 7.4%, respectively. As expected, there was a difference (P < 0.0001) in the recovery of Salmonella because of sampling time. Salmonella prevalence at time A (36%) was significantly higher, whereas there was no difference between time B (12%) and C (9%). There was a location effect (P < 0.0001) for the prevalence of Salmonella with the head puller, picker, cropper, and scalder having a significantly higher prevalence when compared with several other locations. At sampling time C, a trend toward a difference (P = 0.0899) was observed for Salmonella prevalence between the 6 plants, whereas significant differences were observed because of location (P = 0.0031). Five prominent Salmonella enterica serovars were identified, including Kentucky, Schwarzengrund, Enteritidis, Liverpool, and Typhimurium with S. Kentucky being the most prevalent. PCR analysis of 8 Salmonella virulence genes showed that the invA, sipB, spiA, sseC, and fimA were detected in all isolates, whereas genes carried on plasmids and/or fimbriae varied remarkably among all isolates. This study established Salmonella prevalence and persistence in poultry processing facilities after antimicrobial application through sanitization procedures which could result in contamination of poultry carcasses and food safety risks because of poultry meat.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• C.D. McDaniel

  33 shared

• Li Zhang

  Peking Union Medical College Hospital

  19 shared

• H.M. Parker

  Mississippi State University

  18 shared

• Anuraj T. Sukumaran

  Orasure Technologies (United States)

  17 shared

• J.L. Purswell

  U.S. National Poultry Research Center

  13 shared

• K.G.S. Wamsley

  Mississippi State University

  12 shared

• J.D. Davis

  Auburn University

  11 shared

• Chander Shekhar Sharma

  11 shared

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