Survival of Swine Vesicular Disease Virus in “Prosciutto di Parma” (Parma Ham)

Abstract

Experiments were conducted at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center of the Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture and at the Istituto Zooprofilattico, Brescia, Italy, to determine if the processing and curing of the Parma hams would inactivate swine vesicular disease virus. The experimental data indicated that the virus was inactivated between 180 and 300d postslaughter in the U.S. experiment and between 90 and 182d post-slaughter in the Italian experiment. The minimal curing period for Parma hams is 365d, which would assure that the ham is free of infectious swine vesicular disease virus.