Salmonella monitoring in pigs in the Veneto Region of Italy: results of three monitoring campaigns from 2002 to 2006

From 2002 to 2006 three monitonng campa1gns have been performed in the Veneto Region of Italy to define the prevalence of Salmonella in p1gs slaughtered in this area. The monitoring scheme applied allowed to assess the prevalence for Salmonella, and was adjusted after each year of application in order to detect defined variations in prevalence, with a reduced number of samples. In the first (2002-2003) monitoring campaign the sample size (384 slaughtered batches) was assessed on the basis of the following criteria: expected prevalence = 50%; accuracy = 5% and confidence 1nterval = 95%. Samples were stratified according to the capacity of each slaughterhouse, and equally distributed in a 12 months period. One animal was sampled for each batch, collecting 25 grams of caecal content