Abstract
The shedding of foodborne pathogenic bacteria by food-animals can be affected by multiple factors, such as animal health, diet, stress, and environmental conditions. The practices that come with transport involve fasting, handling, mixing with unfamiliar pigs, and fluctuating temperatures. These practices, especially fasting and transport, can increase the microbial load in the feces of animals. The use of alginate hydrogels is a novel delivery system that can be a potential food safety intervention during transport to induce satiety and provide electrolytes to the animal’s system. This study sought to observe microbial shedding as affected by fasting and hydrogel bead supplementation during transport. Sixty market pigs were subjected to a 12 h fasting period and an additional 4 h transport period, in which a treatment group was fed hydrogel beads and a control group was not. Sampling points were before fast (BF), before transport (BT), and after transport (AT). Fecal samples were collected from every animal at each sampling point. Results from this study showed a significant increase in the concentrations of both Enterobacteriaceae and Escherichia coli between the before fast (BF) and after transport (AT) sampling points. However, no difference (p > 0.05) was found between the treatment (hydrogel) and control (no hydrogel) during transport. Moreover, no significant difference was found in the prevalence of Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7 at the three different sampling points, or between the treatment and control groups.
Highlights
In food-animal production, animal health and wellness are interconnected with the pre-harvest interventions to ensure the safety of their products and to minimize the risks of foodborne illnesses to the consumers
These results led to the use of maternal pheromones on the hydrogel beads administered to the animals in the present research
With respect to pathogen prevalence, no difference was found among sampling points in Salmonella and E. coli O157:H7
Summary
In food-animal production, animal health and wellness are interconnected with the pre-harvest interventions to ensure the safety of their products and to minimize the risks of foodborne illnesses to the consumers. The presence and concentration of these microorganisms in the gastrointestinal tract of pigs may vary due to numerous factors [3], such as sanitary conditions at the farm, quality and availability of water, quality of feed, and type of diet [4,5]. Pre-harvest interventions are implemented prior to slaughter to minimize food safety risk factors and to aid with food safety of pork during processing [6]. Transport is a complex stressor, as it involves handling, mixing of unfamiliar pigs, fluctuating temperatures, withdrawal from feed and water, sudden speed changes, and noise [8,9,10].
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
