A risk assessment for Salmonella in pigs in Great Britain

Along with poultry, pig meat has been identified as a potential source of human food borne Salmonella infection. In order to minimise the risk of human illness, a number of EU countries have initiated Salmonella monitoring programmes for pigs (e.g. Denmark, Germany, UK) and EU requirements for control of Salmonella in pigs will be based on the results of recent surveys together with risk assessment and economic studies that are under way . However, control programmes cannot be successful unless practical interventions are available for pig fanners and producers to implement. Therefore, as part of a large risk-based study investigating control of Salmonella in pigs, a full British farm-to-consumption risk assessment has been developed in order to predict the impact of interventions upon the risk of human disease. The interventions investigated within the risk assessment were: vaccination, feeding of organic acids, rodent control, anal bunging and washing and drying of the carcass at dehairing