USDA Research Documents Absence of Trichinella Infection in Commercial Pigs
02 Agosto 2024 - 8:12AM
The U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced that
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have documented the
absence of infection by Trichinella, a parasite that once posed a
major food safety risk in the commercial pork supply. ARS and the
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) conducted a
national survey by sampling 3.2 million pigs raised under the U.S.
Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA+) program and found zero animals
infected with Trichinella. These results are consistent with
international food safety guidelines for Trichinella to be
considered a negligible risk for public health.
The United States does not perform post-slaughter testing
for Trichinella in the pork supply. While modern production
systems followed by U.S pork producers effectively minimize risk of
exposure to this parasite, absence of Trichinella infection has
never been verified through national testing. ARS researchers
pursued this study to ascertain whether the PQA+ program eliminates
the risk of Trichinella exposure in commercial pork, thereby
addressing the demands of the U.S. export market.
The U.S. Pork Quality Assurance Plus (PQA+) program is an
education and certification program designed by the U.S. pork
industry to help pig farmers and their employees continually
improve production practices. The program addresses food safety,
animal well-being, environmental stewardship, worker safety, and
public health. Many of the provisions for mitigating risk
of Trichinella exposure are based on research conducted by ARS
scientists. PQA+ includes five best management practices for
prevention of exposure to Trichinella:
- Following proper feed biosecurity protocols.
- Preventing exposure to rodents, wildlife, and birds.
- Refraining from feeding raw food waste of animal origin to
swine.
- Promptly removing and properly disposing of swine
carcasses.
- Documenting animal arrivals and departures from PQA+ production
sites.
In the ARS study, a total of 3,208,643 animals across twelve
processing locations were tested over a period of 54 months.
Parasites were not detected in any of the diagnostic samples,
providing a 95% confidence in a Trichinella prevalence of less than
1 in 1,000,000 pigs. The occurrence of Trichinella in pork once
posed a major food safety risk in many countries, justifying
decades of effort expended on controlling this parasite. The data
obtained from testing support the conclusion that pork from pigs
managed under the PQA+ program do not pose a public health
risk.
“The surveillance data support the assertion that the U.S. PQA+
program effectively mitigates risk for Trichinella infection
in pigs,” said Dr. Benjamin Rosenthal, Research Leader of the ARS
Animal Parasitic Disease Laboratory. “It is equally important to
note that the data could be useful for future food safety
decisions, including hazard analysis decisions.”
PQA+ guidelines and implementation details follow those for
controlled management described by the World Organization for
Animal Health and guidelines of the International Commission
on Trichinellosis. Eleven U.S. pork processing companies,
including 30 locations in 12 states, participated in the survey.
There are currently more than 63,000 U.S. pork producers certified
under PQA+.
This research, which is highlighted in this month’s issue
of Food and Waterborne Parasitology, was supported by funding from
the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Agricultural
Research Service, and the U.S. National Pork Producers Council.
The Agricultural Research Service is the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s chief scientific in-house research
agency. Daily, ARS focuses on solutions to agricultural problems
affecting America. Each dollar invested in agricultural research
results in $20 of economic impact.
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Autumn Canaday
USDA-ARS
202.669.5480
Autumn.Canaday@usda.gov