Salmonella in pork on the island of Ireland A microbial risk assessment

A study was carried out on the occurrence of Salmonella on pork on the island of Ireland and an assessment of the risk factors contributing to its transmission. It included microbiological studies to track the Salmonella status of individual pigs through the pork chain from farm to primal cuts. Studies on the Salmonella status of pork cuts in boning hall, and on raw pork cuts at retail were also undertaken. A quantitative microbial risk assessment model was developed for Salmonella on pork cuts covering the chain from slaughter to boned-out cuts. The study observed that pigs presented for slaughter on the island of Ireland are frequently infected with Salmonella. During the slaughter process the pathogen can be transferred to the meat. Categorising the pig herd based on a historical serological testing for the presence of Salmonella was not shown to be a good predictor of the bacteriological Salmonella status of individual pigs at the time of slaughter. However, it is acknowledged that serological testing does help in giving a rough estimate of the overall Salmonella status of a pig herd and the risk model showed a linear correlation between prevalence of Salmonella in caecal contents and on pork cuts at factory level. Therefore if the number of herds presented for slaughter with high levels of Salmonella (Category 3) was reduced, there would be less potential for contamination of the lairage, equipment etc and so less Salmonella contamination on pork. The impact of cross contamination during transport, lairage, processing and distribution cannot be ignored and measures to reduce this would significantly reduce the dissemination of Salmonella in the chain and the risk posed.IE; en; info@teagasc.i