Salmonella enterica in superficial cervical (prescapular) and ileocecal lymph nodes of slaughtered pigs.
Because certain lymph nodes may be incorporated in food products, the presence of Salmonella enterica in these tissues could pose a food safety risk. We designed this two-part study to assess the prevalence of Salmonella in prescapular lymph nodes from normal slaughtered swine. Prescapular lymph nodes were collected from 300 systematically selected pigs in study 1 and, in study 2, from 75 pigs distributed among 10 herds. For study 2, pooled bacterial cultures were also completed on ileocecal lymph nodes, combining tissue from five pigs per pool (n = 60 pools). No Salmonella was detected in study 1 among prescapular lymph nodes (95% confidence interval, 0.0 to 1.16%). Salmonella was not detected in 75 prescapular lymph nodes from study 2, although Salmonella was detected in 5 of 10 herds in ileocecal lymph nodes. We conclude that prescapular lymph nodes posed a limited food safety risk in this population of pigs.
Bahnson
Peter B
PB
Department of Medical Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Wisconsin 53706-1102, USA. pbbahnson@wisc.edu
Snyder
Claudia
C
Omran
Latifa M
LM
D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D003257:Consumer Product Safety; D005506:Food Contamination / Q000032:analysis*; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods; D005516:Food Microbiology; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012481:Salmonella Infections, Animal / Q000453:epidemiology*; D019779:Salmonella enterica / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D013552:Swine; D013553:Swine Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology