title: Fur animal botulism hazard due to feed.
abstract: To assess the botulism hazard in fur animal feed production, 236 fur animal feed components and feed samples were analysed for Clostridium botulinum by detecting BoNT-encoding genes (botA, botB, botC, botE or botF) by PCR and for sulphite-reducing clostridia (SRC) by iron sulphite agar. The quality of the hazard analysis of critical control points (HACCP) -based in-house control system (IHCS) was evaluated with respect to botulism risk in feed plants (n=32). The overall prevalence of C. botulinum was 13% in different feed components and 5% in feed. The estimated MPN count of C. botulinum in feed components was 6.4 × 10(3)/kg at the highest and was shown to poorly correlate with SRC count. The critical control points in IHCSs were variable, and control limits were improperly set in most feed-producing plants. C. botulinum possesses a persistent safety hazard for fur animals by feed production, and control practices should be reassessed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food and Environmental Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Finland. jan.myllykoski@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Myllykoski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lindström
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Bekema
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pölönen
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Korkeala
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs / Q000592:standards; D000821:Animal Feed / Q000382:microbiology*; D000818:Animals; D000829:Animals, Domestic; D001906:Botulism / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology / Q000662:veterinary*; D003014:Clostridium botulinum / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004196:Disease Outbreaks / Q000662:veterinary; D005387:Finland; D005516:Food Microbiology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000662:veterinary