Salmonella enterica prevalence in finishing pigs at slaughter plants in Northern Italy


Submitted: 24 April 2013
Accepted: 14 October 2013
Published: 29 April 2014
Abstract Views: 1323
PDF - FULL TEXT IN ENG: 643
HTML: 125
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

  • Irene Alpigiani Unità Operativa di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie, Università di Parma, Italy.
  • Cristina Bacci Unità Operativa di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie, Università di Parma, Italy.
  • Elisa Lanzoni Unità Operativa di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie, Università di Parma, Italy.
  • Franco Brindani Unità Operativa di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie, Università di Parma, Italy.
  • Silvia Bonardi Unità Operativa di Ispezione degli Alimenti di Origine Animale, Dipartimento di Scienze Medico Veterinarie, Università di Parma, Italy.
Finishing pigs carrying Salmonella enterica are believed to be the main source of carcass contamination at the beginning of slaughtering. The aim of this study was to assess the S. enterica carrier status of finishing pigs at herd level by sampling pooled faeces on farm and mesenteric lymph nodes at slaughter in the North East of Italy. Environmental faecal samples belonging to 30 batches of pigs were collected on farm. At slaughter, mesenteric lymph nodes were collected from five randomly selected pigs per batch. S. enterica was isolated from 16 lymph nodes out of 150 (10.6%) and from seven out of 30 (23.3%) faecal samples. Four batches (13.3%) were positive to S. enterica both in lymph nodes and in faeces. The number of batches positive to S. enterica either in lymph nodes or in faeces was 13 out of 30 (43.3%). The most prevalent serovars from lymph nodes were S. Derby (25.0%) and S. Typhimurium monophasic variant 1, 4,[5],12:i:- (18.6%), which were also isolated from faecal material (14.3 and 42.8% respectively). Contaminated faecal material or lymph nodes could be a primary source of carcass contamination at slaughter during evisceration. S. enterica contamination is widespread on pig farms and carrier pigs pass undetected the inspection visits at slaughter, entering the food chain. Therefore, in order to control S. enterica in pigs, the need to quantify possible risk factors at slaughter and develop effective management strategies on farm is of paramount importance to ensure food safety.

Supporting Agencies

Unit of Food Inspection, Parma, Italy

1.
Alpigiani I, Bacci C, Lanzoni E, Brindani F, Bonardi S. Salmonella enterica prevalence in finishing pigs at slaughter plants in Northern Italy. Ital J Food Safety [Internet]. 2014 Apr. 29 [cited 2024 Mar. 29];3(2). Available from: https://www.pagepressjournals.org/ijfs/article/view/ijfs.2014.1609

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations


Similar Articles

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.