title: Impact of the sampling method and chilling on the Salmonella recovery from pig carcasses.
abstract: Differences in recovery of Salmonella on pig carcasses using non-destructive and destructive sampling methods is not well understood in respect to the chilling processes applied in slaughterhouses. Therefore, in two slaughterhouses, four strains at two different concentrations were inoculated onto pork skin. Inoculated skin samples were sampled before and after chilling with two sampling methods: swabbing and destruction. Both slaughterhouses were visited three times and all tests were performed in triplicate. All samples were analysed using the ISO-method and recovered isolates were confirmed by PFGE. The chilling system (fast or conventional cooling) nor the sampling step (before and after chilling) did not significantly influence the recovery of Salmonella. However, swabbing after chilling leads to an underestimation of the real number of contaminated carcasses. Therefore, destructive sampling is the more designated sampling method after chilling.
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. Electronic address: Gerty.Vanantwerpen@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Gerty
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Vanantwerpen
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. Electronic address: Lieven.Dezutter@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Lieven
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: De Zutter
authors.affiliation: Unit of Veterinary Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Department of Animal Health, Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nationalestraat 155, B-2000 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: DBerkvens@itg.be.
authors.forename: Dirk
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berkvens
authors.affiliation: Department of Veterinary Public Health and Food Safety, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, Salisburylaan 133, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. Electronic address: Kurt.Houf@ugent.be.
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Houf
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000818:Animals; D003080:Cold Temperature; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D005516:Food Microbiology; D000069466:Red Meat / Q000382:microbiology*; D012034:Refrigeration; D012475:Salmonella / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D012867:Skin / Q000382:microbiology*; D034421:Sus scrofa / Q000382:microbiology*; D013552:Swine / Q000382:microbiology*
keywords: Chilling; Destruction; Detection; Pork skin; Swabbing