Abstract
Salmonella spp are a major foodborne zoonotic cause of human illness. Consumption of pork products is believed to be a major source of human salmonellosis and Salmonella control throughout the food-chain is recommended. A number of on-farm interventions have been proposed, and some have been implemented in order to try to achieve Salmonella control. In this study we utilize previously developed models describing Salmonella dynamics to investigate the potential effects of a range of these on-farm interventions. As the models indicated that the number of bacteria shed in the faeces of an infectious animal was a key factor, interventions applied within a high-shedding scenario were also analysed. From simulation of the model, the probability of infection after Salmonella exposure was found to be a key driver of Salmonella transmission. The model also highlighted that minimising physiological stress can have a large effect but only when shedding levels are not excessive. When shedding was high, weekly cleaning and disinfection was not effective in Salmonella control. However it is possible that cleaning may have an effect if conducted more often. Furthermore, separating infectious animals, shedding bacteria at a high rate, from the rest of the population was found to be able to minimise the spread of Salmonella.
Highlights
Salmonella species are a major cause of zoonotic disease and Salmonella spp can be found in many products intended for human consumption, for example eggs, poultry and pork
Typhimurium continues to be the most commonly isolated serovar in pigs in the United Kingdom (UK), which has remained the case for a number of years [2,3]
Salmonella prevalence differed between regions (&19%–30% [4]), an average prevalence of 23.4% could be representative for the UK
Summary
Salmonella species are a major cause of zoonotic disease and Salmonella spp can be found in many products intended for human consumption, for example eggs, poultry and pork. Salmonella control at the point of production (i.e. on-farm) is considered important. Whilst Salmonella infection on-farm might be high, procedures in place in the abattoir (such as scalding, singeing and polishing) can considerably reduce Salmonella prevalence, resulting in a low carcase prevalence. In the UK 10,071 confirmed cases of human salmonellosis were reported in 2009 [9]; the true number of cases is unknown. It is unclear how many cases are directly a result of pork and pork products; in Denmark, domestic pork was estimated to have caused between 3.7%–11.2% of human salmonellosis cases in 2011 [10]. As such, analysing interventions imposed during this stage is of particular interest
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