Post harvest epidemioilogy of Salmonella enterica in pork: Prevalence in the environment, carcasses and by-products in two slaughterhouses in Greece (1996-1998)
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The SafePork conference series began in 1996 to bring together international researchers, industry, and government agencies to discuss current Salmonella research and identify research needs pertaining to both pig and pork production. In subsequent years topics of research presented at these conferences expanded to include other chemical and biological hazards to pig and pork production.
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In this study our objective was to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella enterica in the environment, on the pork carcasses and on several by-products in 2 industrial slaughterhouses over a 2-year period. In the period from 1/7/96 until 1/8/98, 1874 samples were obtained from the slaughterhouse environment (from the floor, the worker's hands and their knives), product samples (from pork carcasses) and by products (livers and plucks). The prevalence of infection in pigs slaughtered at the sampling dates was estimated by testing samples from mesenteric lymph nodes and caecal content. Environmental samples were collected before the onset of slaughter. After the onset of slaughter and for every 50 pigs, a round of samplings of all sources mentioned above was repeated. Salmonella isolation and identification was carried out by standard cultural method. In total, based on the isolation method, 178/1874 (9.5%) samples were positive. The mean prevalence on floors, workers' hands. workers' knives, pork carcasses and by-products were 19.6% (range: 0%-100%), 5.2% (0%-50%), 3.1% (0%-37.5%), .3% (0%-88.9), 6.6% (0%-90%), respectively. The average prevalence of infection in pigs slaughtered at the sampling dates was 20.7% based on mesenteric lymph nodes and 15.2% based on caecal contents. Before the onset of slaughter, 37.5%, 6.3% and 8.7% of samples obtained from floors, worker hands and knives harbored Salmonella. This may reflect an inadequate plant hygiene. The frequent presence of Salmonella in the caecal contents and the lymph nodes may contribute to significant environmental contamination, including inspectors hands, eventually leading to final product contamination. The isolated salmonellae belonged to 22 serotypes. Among those, S. Derby and S. London were the most frequent representing 25.8% and 15.2% respectively. In conclusion, the frequent presence of Salmonella spp. in the lymph nodes, may indicate infection in the herd. Furthermore, the moderate prevalence of Salmonella on carcasses and by-products calls for further identification and institution of postharvest control options.