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The potential use of chilling to control the growth of Enterobacteriaceae on porcine carcasses and the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 in pigs
Author(s) -
Lenahan M.,
Crowley H.,
O’Brien S.B.,
Byrne C.,
Sweeney T.,
Sheridan J.J.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
journal of applied microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.889
H-Index - 156
eISSN - 1365-2672
pISSN - 1364-5072
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2672.2008.04112.x
Subject(s) - enterobacteriaceae , biology , veterinary medicine , microbiology and biotechnology , food microbiology , escherichia coli , bacteria , medicine , biochemistry , genetics , gene
Aims: To (i) monitor the presence of Enterobacteriaceae as indicators of faecal contamination on pig carcasses, (ii) examine the potential use of chilling as a critical control point (CCP) and establish its influence on pig carcass categorization by Decision 471/EC and (iii) determine the incidence of E. coli O157:H7 in pigs. Methods and Results: Porcine faecal samples and carcass swabs were collected before and after chilling at four Irish pig abattoirs and examined for Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli O157:H7. Chilling generally reduced Enterobacteriaceae counts on carcasses, but increases were also observed, particularly in one abattoir. E. coli O157:H7 was absent from carcasses before chilling, present on 0·21% after chilling and was recovered from 0·63% of faecal samples. All of the isolates were found to contain virulence genes associated with clinical illness in humans. Conclusions: The data show that overall chilling had the capacity to reduce the numbers of carcasses positive for the presence of Enterobacteriaceae . Significance and Impact of Study: The influence of chilling on the categorization of pig carcasses suggests that it has the potential to improve the numbers of acceptable carcasses and the process could be used as a CCP within a HACCP plan.