The overall prevalence of Salmonellosis in humans across the European Union is decreasing but much of this decrease has been ascribed to reduced Salmonella in eggs and poultry meat. There is now increasing emphasis on the role of pig meat as a source of human infection. The European Food Standards Authority (EFSA) estimates that, across the EU, up to 27% of human Salmonellosis cases may be attributed to pig meat (EFSA 2011), although other published estimates indicated lower rates in the order of 3-15%.
European law (Regulation EC2160/2003) requires that National Control Plans are implemented in Member Sates and that controls need to be focused at all stages of pig meat production In this new section we try to give an overview of how each link in the chain can contribute to reducing Salmonella in pigs; possible prevention and control measures for each point in the chain will also be published. Participants include Eva Creus, Enric Marco, Dan Tucker, Jan Dahl, Hector Arguello, Ana Carvajal and Pedro Rubio.