Control strategies for Salmonella in the pig to pork chain in the European Union

Within the European Union Salmonella and Campylobacter are the zoonotic agents with the highest public health impact. Therefore, there is an ongoing need to protect the health of consumers. In the European policy, measures are adopted to battle against Salmonella in poultry which is considered the most important source of human infection. There are several sources of infortnation as regards the Salmonella situation in the pig to pork chain: in some Member States, Salmonella findings in swine are notifiable and action is taken by the official veterinarian; post mortem health inspection includes microbiological tests for salmonella of all suspect animals; laboratory findings in diagnostic examinations of clinically affected artimals are collated routinely; results of typing strains are available at the National Reference Laboratories which had been implemented in all Member States of the European Union following the provisions of the Council Directive 92/117/EEC. Compulsory control programmes are in some Member States already in force to combat Salmonella in swine. Furthermore, in several countries of the European Union monitoring plans have been established, partly following the Danish approach. These plans are mainly conducted on a voluntary basis or run within highly integrated companies. Both, bacteriological and serological methods are applied. These programmes include the basal production at the farm level to estimate the Salmonella input into the food chain, the slaughterhouses and the retail level. Breeding herds are involved in some programmes as this is true for feedingstuffs