The main goal of the present paper is to overview, using the example of pigs/pork, the developments in official meat inspection in the European Union that occurred from 2000 onwards. The developments aim at transition from traditional, macroscopic examination of slaughtered animals to a risk and meat-chain based, comprehensive meat safety assurance system.
pig
The scientific reasoning for those developments and the generic framework of a modernised system as proposed by the European Food Safety Authority, as well as the current status and future perspectives of related changes, are considered. Also, the main factors hampering the implementation of the changes in practice and possible directions for further work needed to overcome them are outlined.
From traditional meat inspection to development of meat safety assurance programs in pig abattoirs- the European situation
The Wyoming Department of Health has confirmed a Salmonella outbreak caused by a pig or pigs at the Johnson County Fair.
After a number of Johnson County Fair participants fell ill with stomach cramps and diarrhea, the Department of Health requested stool samples from five people and was able to confirm that all five were suffering from the same type of salmonella.
According to the department’s surveillance epidemiologist Tiffany Greenlee, when two or more people get the same illness from contact with the same animal or animal environment, the event is called a zoonotic outbreak. Greenlee said the pathology reports indicate that the bacteria was transferred from animal to person via pig feces.
“Salmonella lives in animal intestines and is passed through excrement,” Greenlee said. “At fair, people are around their animals extensively – washing and feeding and grooming, and it’s pretty easy to get animal poop on your hands. We believe people got it from pig poop.”
I had a woman call me today who said she worked with one of my former students who was with me around 2000, and she said nice things about me – I was a tough asshole but she still said nice things about me.
That’s the part I miss the most about being an ex-university professor, the students, and of course the hockey.
I do not miss faculty meetings.
I do miss Gonzo and Kate, people I worked with in the past, but nice to see them develop, and the little part I may have had in that. Chapman I don’t miss, because we talk every day ad e-mail each other about 10 times.
If Chapman gets accolades for bailing me out of jail, Gonzo gets full points for taking me to the hospital and waiting with me when I decided it might be a good idea to OD on booze when I lost my job (at the mall; I misplaced it).
Jen Sieve-Hicks of the Buffalo Bulletin, the best newspaper title I’ve heard in a long time, reports the Wyoming Department of Health has confirmed a salmonella outbreak caused by a pig or pigs at the Johnson County Fair.
After a number of Johnson County Fair participants fell ill with stomach cramps and diarrhea, the Department of Health requested stool samples from five people and was able to confirm that all five were suffering from the same type of salmonella.
According to the department’s surveillance epidemiologist Tiffany Greenlee, when two or more people get the same illness from contact with the same animal or animal environment, the event is called a zoonotic outbreak. Greenlee said the pathology reports indicate that the bacteria was transferred from animal to person via pig feces.
“Salmonella lives in animal intestines and is passed through excrement,” Greenlee said. “At fair, people are around their animals extensively – washing and feeding and grooming, and it’s pretty easy to get animal poop on your hands. We believe people got it from pig poop.”
Johnson County Fair Board President Laci Schiffer said that all animals exhibited at the fair undergo a health inspection before the opening of exhibits, and the fair has veterinarians on call the entire week of the fair should an animal appear ill.
Observation of public health risk behaviours, risk communication and hand hygiene at Kansas and Missouri petting zoos – 2010-2011. Zoonoses Public Health. 2012 Jul 30. doi: 10.1111/j.1863-2378.2012.01531.x. [Epub ahead of print]
Outbreaks of human illness have been linked to visiting settings with animal contact throughout developed countries. This paper details an observational study of hand hygiene tool availability and recommendations; frequency of risky behavior; and, handwashing attempts by visitors in Kansas (9) and Missouri (4), U.S., petting zoos.
Handwashing signs and hand hygiene stations were available at the exit of animal-contact areas in 10/13 and 8/13 petting zoos respectively. Risky behaviors were observed being performed at all petting zoos by at least one visitor. Frequently observed behaviors were: children (10/13 petting zoos) and adults (9/13 petting zoos) touching hands to face within animal-contact areas; animals licking children’s and adults’ hands (7/13 and 4/13 petting zoos, respectively); and children and adults drinking within animal-contact areas (5/13 petting zoos each). Of 574 visitors observed for hand hygiene when exiting animal-contact areas, 37% (n=214) of individuals attempted some type of hand hygiene, with male adults, female adults, and children attempting at similar rates (32%, 40%, and 37% respectively). Visitors were 4.8x more likely to wash their hands when a staff member was present within or at the exit to the animal-contact area (136/231, 59%) than when no staff member was present (78/343, 23%; p<0.001, OR=4.863, 95% C.I.=3.380-6.998). Visitors at zoos with a fence as a partial barrier to human-animal contact were 2.3x more likely to wash their hands (188/460, 40.9%) than visitors allowed to enter the animals’ yard for contact (26/114, 22.8%; p<0.001, OR= 2.339, 95% CI= 1.454-3.763). Inconsistencies existed in tool availability, signage, and supervision of animal-contact.
Risk communication was poor, with few petting zoos outlining risks associated with animal-contact, or providing recommendations for precautions to be taken to reduce these risks.
Best practices for planning events encouraging human-animal interactions
03.Apr.14
Zoonoses and Public Health DOI: 10.1111/zph.12117
G. Erdozain , K. KuKanich , B. Chapman and D. Powell
Educational events encouraging human-animal interaction include the risk of zoonotic disease transmission. It is estimated that 14% of all disease in the USA caused by Campylobacter spp., Cryptosporidium spp., Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157, non-O157 STECs, Listeria monocytogenes, non-typhoidal Salmonella enterica and Yersinia enterocolitica were attributable to animal contact. This article reviews best practices for organizing events where human-animal interactions are encouraged, with the objective of lowering the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) today announced its continued effort to modernize inspection systems through science-based approaches to food safety. USDA is proposing to amend the federal meat inspection regulations to establish a new voluntary inspection system for market hog slaughter establishments called the New Swine Slaughter Inspection System (NSIS), while also requiring additional pathogen sampling for all swine slaughter establishments.
The proposed rule also allows innovation and flexibility to establishments that are slaughtering market hogs. Market hogs are uniform, healthy, young animals that can be slaughtered and processed in this modernized system more efficiently and effectively with enhanced process control.
For market hog establishments that opt into NSIS, the proposed rule would increase the number of offline USDA inspection tasks, while continuing 100% FSIS carcass-by-carcass inspection. These offline inspection tasks place inspectors in areas of the production process where they can perform critical tasks that have direct impact on food safety.
There will be a 60-day period for comment once the rule is published in the Federal Register.
Nearly 15 percent of pre-weaned piglets die each year. According to U.S. pork producers, many are crushed by sows (adult female pigs). Modifying the sows’ stalls or crates may help reduce piglet deaths. The first step, according to ARS agricultural engineer Tami Brown-Brandl, is to evaluate sow and piglet behavior in their stalls. Animal behavior contains vital clues about health and well-being that producers can use to better manage their livestock.
Brown-Brandl and a team of scientists from China, Iowa Select Farms and Iowa State University developed a system to automatically process and analyze 3-D images of sows. A camera mounted over birthing crates captures images to determine a sow’s behavior and posture: if she’s eating, drinking, standing, sitting, or lying down.
The system, which accurately classifies behavior, could potentially help prevent sows from crushing their piglets, according to Brown-Brandl, who works at ARS’s Roman L. Hruska U.S. Meat Animal Research Center in Clay Center, Nebraska.
This technology allows swine producers to better monitor their pigs and determine whether management adjustments, such as changes in crate size or pen arrangement, are needed, Brown-Brandl adds. The data could also help producers locate sick animals more quickly.
Toxoplasmosis is a foodborne zoonosis transmitted by Toxoplasma gondii, a cosmopolitan protozoan that infects humans through exposure to different parasite stages, in particular by ingestion of tissue cysts or tachyzoites contained in meat, primary offal (viscera), and meat-derived products or ingestion of environmental sporulated oocysts in contaminated food or water.
The pig is an important species for infection: raw or undercooked pork consumption not subject to treatment able to inactivate the parasite represents a risk to consumers’ health. Broadening knowledge of transmission ways and prevalence concerning this important pathogen in swine, together with a thorough acquaintance with hazard management are key elements to avoid T. gondii spreading within the swine production chain.
This review aims to illustrate why toxoplasmosis should be regarded as a veterinary public health issue through a careful description of the parasite, routes of infection, and inactivation treatments, highlighting the main prevention lines from pig breeding to pork consumption.
Toxoplasma gongii, a foodborne pathogen in the swine production chain form a European perspective
Foodborne Pathogens and Disease, ahead of print, July 2017, De Berardinis Alberto, Paludi Domenico, Pennisi Luca, and Vergara Alberto, https://doi.org/10.1089/fpd.2017.2305
To identify vehicles of infection, we analysed surveillance data, conducted a case-control study and food traceback. We identified 267 cases infected with Salmonella Infantis with symptom onset between 16 April and 26 October 2013 in four neighbouring federal states.
Results of our study indicated that cases were more likely to have eaten raw minced pork from local butcher’s shops [odds ratio (OR) 2·5, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1·1–5·8] and have taken gastric acid-reducing or -neutralizing medication (OR 3·8, 95% CI 1·3–13) than controls.
The outbreak was traced back to contaminated raw pork products found in different butcher’s shops supplied by one slaughterhouse, to pigs at one farm and to an animal feed producer. Characterization of isolates of human, food, animal, feed, and environmental origin by phage-typing and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis confirmed the chain of infection.
Insufficient hygiene standards in the slaughterhouse were the most probable cause of the ongoing transmission. We recommend that persons taking gastric acid suppressants should refrain from consuming raw pork products. Improving and maintaining adequate hygiene standards and process controls during slaughter is important to prevent future outbreaks.
A prolonged outbreak of Salmonella Infantis associated with pork products in central Germany, April–October 2013
Epidemiology and Infection / Volume 144 / Issue 07 / May 2016, pp 1429-1439
Epidemiologic, laboratory, and traceback findings identified pork produced by Kapowsin Meats as the likely source of this outbreak of SalmonellaI 4,[5],12:i:- and SalmonellaInfantis infections.
192 people infected with the outbreak strains of SalmonellaI 4,[5],12:i:- (188) andSalmonella Infantis (4) were reported from five states.
Most ill people were reported from Washington.
30 ill people were hospitalized, and no deaths were reported.
CDC’s National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System(NARMS) laboratory conducted antibiotic-resistance testing on clinical isolates collected from 10 ill people infected with one of the outbreak strains of Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:-.
All 10 isolates (100%) were multidrug resistant. This included resistance to ampicillin, streptomycin, sulfisoxazole, and tetracycline.
Antibiotic resistance may be associated with increased risk of hospitalization, development of a bloodstream infection, or treatment failure in patients.
On August 27, 2015, Kapowsin Meats issued an expanded recallof approximately 523,380 pounds of pork products that might be contaminated with Salmonella I 4,[5],12:i:-.
Consumers should check their homes and freezers for the recalled pork products and should not cook or eat them. Retailers should not sell these products and restaurants should not serve them.
According to the university, the results of this study will be used as the basis for future research that is designed to show that vaccinating pigs for L. intracellularis could decrease shedding of S. enterica, potentially helping to reduce the number of foodborne illnesses attributed to this pathogen.
Pigs are frequent asymptomatic carriers of S. enterica, and pigs that carry the pathogen can result in contaminated pork products.
“Swine can act as a reservoir for the spread of S. enterica throughout the herd, within the packing plant and during processing to the finished product,” the study noted.
The study, Changes in the porcine intestinal microbiome in response to infection with Salmonella enterica and Lawsonia intracellularis, was published in the Oct. 13 issue of PLOS One, a peer-reviewed, open-access scientific journal published by the Public Library of Science (PLOS).
They first attended a house at Meringandan West last Wednesday where they saw a man inside an enclosed pen, upon closer inspection they also found a large pig eating what they described as a “green leafy material”.
Police will allege that they conducted a search of the address and found a 1.6m high cannabis plant along with 140.7 grams of cannabis.
