The U.S. Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA FSIS) is updating the performance standards for Salmonella in raw pork. Since Salmonella has many different serotypes, which are groups of microorganisms that share distinctive surface structures, it’s important for producers to understand which serotypes cause human health problems as well as what preharvest strategies they can use to limit Salmonella in the first place. Dr. Greg Cline, senior key account veterinarian with Boehringer Ingelheim, said there are many different serotypes, but we only have to worry about a few of them.
Fortunately, Dr. Cline said most of the preharvest Salmonella strategies should be familiar to producers already.
The most common strain of Salmonella in pigs and people nowadays is S. Typhimurium. This may be different than in years past, but Dr. Cline said that Boehringer Ingelheim has the only vaccine on the marketplace that provides cross protection for two prominent forms of Salmonella.
For more information, visit bi-animalhealth.com.
