Around 30 experts from universities, governmental institutions, diagnostic laboratories and abattoirs will be invited to the three-day event in Germany.

Experts to discuss ideal monitoring system

A special symposium to help European countries get a better grip on salmonella control in pigs is being organised by pharmaceutical company IDT Biologika.

Around 30 experts from universities, governmental institutions, diagnostic laboratories and abattoirs will be invited to the three-day event in Germany to discuss the ideal monitoring system for salmonella in pork.

Dr Verena Gotter, international technical service manager at IDT, said:  "Although there has been EU-wide legislation on the control of salmonella for 12 years, little progress has been made. This is mainly due to the fact that the experts in different parts of the pork supply chain have never really talked to each other so there isn’t a consensus on the ideal way to monitor salmonella in pigs,”

“The newest data from the European Food Safety Authority shows that, while the general risk of salmonella infections in humans of food-borne origin is decreasing, the relative importance of pork products is increasing,”

IDT say that the pig industry has failed to take lessons on salmonella control from poultry businesses, where vaccination of layer flocks has played a major role in the reduction of salmonellosis incidence in humans from egg and egg products.

The cost of an outbreak of salmonella can be huge. So much so that Germany's largest abattoir has instilled a €0.30 per kilogram penalty on pigs which fall into the wort category of their salmonella monitoring system.

The meeting is the second of its kind and will take place in Dessau-Worlitz on 23-25 September.