Salmonella spp. in Pigs Slaughtered in Small and Medium-Sized Abattoirs in Central Italy: Preliminary Results on Occurrence and Control Strategies

Alessia Zicavo,Raffaella Branciari,Roberta Ortenzi,Andrea Valiani,Tana Shtylla Kika,David Ranucci,Sara Primavilla,Rossana Roila

doi:10.3390/app11167600

Alessia Zicavo, Raffaella Branciari + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/app11167600

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Abstract

Salmonella in pork is still a relevant safety issue in the EU, and specific regulations are in force to control this hazard in the meat chain, in a from farm to fork perspective. In Italy, the control is mainly based on official sampling at the slaughterhouse level. The prevalence of Salmonella, and isolated serovars, was investigated during a three-year survey in small and medium slaughterhouses in central Italy. A total of 400 pig carcasses samples were collected by official authorities during the observation period. Data were also analyzed according to the year and season of sampling. The overall Salmonella prevalence in the five selected abattoirs was 13%, with no differences due to the slaughterhouses size and seasons of sampling. An increasing trend in Salmonella prevalence was registered over the years. The main serovars detected were Salmonella enterica 4,[5],12:i:- and Derby. The data emphasized that the number of contaminated carcasses is relatively high with respect to the level set by EU legislation, and equally distributed in the area, and therefore, appropriate monitoring and control strategies also need to be developed at the farm level.

Highlights

Among foodborne bacteria, Salmonella has in recent decades been globally considered a food safety issue
Data from Australia estimated more than 39,000 foodborne salmonellosis cases, of which 2.5% were attributable to a porcine source [4]; the incidence of human salmonellosis continues to rise every year in Australia [5]
The results are even higher than those reported from pig carcasses by the ECDC and EFSA (3.88%) [1] but are in line with results obtained by other authors in extra-EU, EU, and Italian abattoirs [14,22,32,33,34,35]

Summary

Introduction

Salmonella has in recent decades been globally considered a food safety issue. According to the 2021 European Center for Disease Control (ECDC)—European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) summary report on zoonoses, it represents the second most frequently reported zoonotic agent in the European Union (EU), with 87,923 confirmed cases in 2019 and a stable trend during 2015–2019 [1]. Salmonella was identified in 926 food-borne outbreaks (17.9% of the total number of outbreaks) that together affected 9169 people in the EU, with 1915 hospitalizations and seven deaths. The U.S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that Salmonella causes 1 million cases of foodborne illness every year in the United States, with 113 outbreaks in 2017 accounting for 29% of confirmed single-pathogen outbreaks [3].

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