Effect of the use of organic acids in drinking water during the last two weeks prior to slaughter on salmonella shedding

In this study we investigated the effect of adding organic acids to the drinking water of finishing pigs two weeks prior to slaughter on the shedding and prevalence rate of Salmonella at slaughter. One hundred animals from 4 Belgian pig herds infected with Salmonella were included. Fifty of these ammals received drinking water supplemented with a mixture of different organic acids during 14 days prior to slaughter. Non-treated animals served as controls. Different samples were taken: contents of ileum and rectum, mesenteric lymph nodes and carcass swabs. All samples were submitted to Salmonella isolation using standard procedures. The results could not reveal a significant difference between both groups. This may be due to the limited power of the study (only 50 animals sampled in each group) or due to the fact that the treatment duration was insufficient to prove the benefit of the used organic acids