Assessment of public health risks from Salmonella infection in pigs and impact of control measures

The European Commission has asked the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to produce a Quantitative Microbial Risk Assessment (QMRA) on Salmonella in porkers and breeding stock throughout the pig meat food chain, from farm to fork. The EFSA recently published this scientific advisory assessing the public health risks tied to Salmonella in pork meat and the impact of potential control measures. This document looks set to guide European Union policy in finalizing EU-wide regulations governing Salmonella control in the pork industry. Here, we keynote the main conclusions of this report, employing the same format used, i.e. answers to the questions raised by the EFSA. An estimated 10% to 20% of human Salmonella infections across the EU may be attributable to the pig reservoir as a whole, and an 80% to 90% reduction in lymph node prevalence should result in a comparable reduction in the number of human cases attributable to pig meat products. The main control measures proposed are: reduction of Salmonella prevalence in breeder pigs; control of Salmonella contamination in food; control of on-farm environmental contamination by stepping up biosecurity programmes. Furthermore, the carcass decontamination process currently used in slaughterhouses in certain EU countries is one of the prevention measures cited as a plus.