A Review of Slaughter Practices and Their Effectiveness to Control Microbial - esp. Salmonella spp. - Contamination of Pig Carcasses

Arvo Viltrop; Tarmo Niine; Tijs Tobias; Elena Lucia Sassu; Ilaria Di Bartolo; Enrico Pavoni; Giovanni Loris Alborali; Elke Burow; Richard Piers Smith

doi:10.1016/j.jfp.2023.100171

A Review of Slaughter Practices and Their Effectiveness to Control Microbial - esp. Salmonella spp. - Contamination of Pig Carcasses

J Food Prot. 2023 Nov;86(11):100171. doi: 10.1016/j.jfp.2023.100171. Epub 2023 Sep 29.

Authors

Arvo Viltrop¹, Tarmo Niine², Tijs Tobias³, Elena Lucia Sassu⁴, Ilaria Di Bartolo⁵, Enrico Pavoni⁶, Giovanni Loris Alborali⁷, Elke Burow⁸, Richard Piers Smith⁹

Affiliations

¹ Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 62, Tartu 51006, Estonia. Electronic address: arvo.viltrop@emu.ee.
² Estonian University of Life Sciences, Institute of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 62, Tartu 51006, Estonia. Electronic address: tarmo.niine@emu.ee.
³ Utrecht University, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Department of Population Health Sciences, Farm Animal Health Unit, Yalelaan 7, 3584CL Utrecht, the Netherlands; Royal GD (Animal Health Service), P.O. Box 9, 7400 AA Deventer, the Netherlands. Electronic address: T.J.Tobias@uu.nl.
⁴ Institute of Veterinary Disease Control, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Mödling, Austria. Electronic address: elena-lucia.sassu@ages.at.
⁵ Dept. of Food Safety, Nutrition and Veterinary Public Health, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Roma, Italy. Electronic address: ilaria.dibartolo@iss.it.
⁶ Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, via Bianchi 7/9, 25124 Brescia, Italy. Electronic address: enrico.pavoni@izsler.it.
⁷ Experimental Zooprophylactic Institute of Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, via Bianchi 7/9, 25124 Brescia, Italy. Electronic address: giovanni.alborali@izsler.it.
⁸ German Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Department of Biological Safety, Max-Dohrn Str. 8-10, 10589 Berlin, Germany. Electronic address: elke.burow@mluk.brandenburg.de.
⁹ Department of Epidemiological Sciences, Animal and Plant Health Agency - Weybridge, Woodham Lane, New Haw, Addlestone, Surrey KT15 3NB, UK. Electronic address: Richard.p.smith@apha.gov.uk.

PMID: 37778508
DOI: 10.1016/j.jfp.2023.100171

Abstract

The BIOPIGEE project (part of the One Health European Joint Programme under Horizon 2020) aimed to identify relevant measures to effectively control Salmonella, and another zoonotic pathogen, hepatitis E virus (HEV) within the pig meat food chain. The aim of this study was to identify biosecurity measures or management practices that are relevant for limiting Salmonella and/or HEV occurrence and spread within pig slaughterhouses. This was with the final goal of compiling a list of biosecurity measures for different processes and operations along the slaughter line with evidence of their effectiveness. To achieve this, a literature review was conducted on studies estimating the effectiveness of measures applied in slaughterhouses to reduce the microbial contamination of pig carcasses. Results of this literature search are discussed and presented in summary tables that could be used as a source of information for the pig slaughter industry to further develop their guidelines on hygienic slaughter.

Keywords: Abattoir; Biosecurity; Hepatitis E virus; Pork; Slaughter hygiene; Swine.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Abattoirs
Animals
Food Contamination* / analysis
Food Contamination* / prevention & control
Food Microbiology*
Meat
Prevalence
Salmonella
Swine