VIV Europe Hotline, 22 April : Pig producers need to wake up to the risks posed by Salmonella, believes Roger Mann, regional director for Anitox in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
According to an assessment released in April by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in April, pigs and pig meat may be responsible for 10 to 20% of all human cases of salmonellosis in the EU. The assessment suggests that controlling Salmonella more effectively with the pig meat food chain would have a direct impact on reducing the number of human cases.
Mr Mann continued that: “Food safety is becoming a very ‘hot topic’ and is now firmly on the political agenda, which makes it of increasing concern to feed manufacturers and livestock producers.”
He notes that while there is a heightened awareness among pig producers to address the problem, there remains a degree of reluctance as there is no immediate financial return, understandable given the difficulties pig producers have gone through. Failure to tackle the problem, however, could result in much bigger problems for producers.
He continued that the European Food Safety Authority Panel on Biological Hazards had concluded that feed was a major vector for the transmission of Salmonella. Anitox has been highlighting its lead biocidal feed treatment Tremin-8 at VIV Europe.
