Publication Database

Harmonised epidemiological indicators:
how is the current situation of implementation for broilers, pigs, and bovines in Europe? (2023)

Art

Vortrag

Autoren

Li, Ting-Ting (WE 8)

Langkabel, Nina (WE 8)

Langforth, Susann (WE 8)

Sotiraki, Smaragda

Anastasiadou, Sofia

Nesbakken, Truls

Meemken, Diana (WE 8)

Kongress

3rd RIBMINS Scientific Conference "Shaping the Future of RB-MSAS"

Bukarest (Rumänien), 29. – 30.03.2023

Quelle

3rd RIBMINS scientific conference "shaping the future of RB-MSAS" : 29-30 March 2023 – Bucharest + online : book of abstracts — COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology ; editors: Nevijo Zdolec & Brigitte Sperner (Hrsg.)

— S. 14

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://ribmins.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/RIBMINS-Proceedings-2023.pdf

Kontakt

Institut für Lebensmittelsicherheit und -hygiene

Königsweg 69
14163 Berlin
+49 30 838 62551 / 52790
lebensmittelhygiene@vetmed.fu-berlin.de / fleischhygiene@vetmed.fu-berlin.de

Abstract / Zusammenfassung

Harmonised epidemiological indicators (HEIs) were first introduced by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2011. EFSA defined HEIs as the "prevalence or concentration of the hazard at a certain stage of the food chain or an indirect indicator of the hazards [...]
that correlates to human health risk caused by the hazard". HEIs enable risk categorisation of herds regarding their risk exposure to biological hazards and of abattoirs by their ability to control and reduce the risk. In the framework of a risk-based meat safety assurance system (RB-MSAS), EFSA proposed the utilisation of HEIs or the information they provide as a part of food chain information to adjust current methods for meat inspection if they are
insufficient to address the risk. Since the application of HEIs is not regulated by law and EFSA's proposal is a decade old, the aim of this study was to examine which of the HEIs are applied for broilers, pigs and bovines and which corresponding private and/or official monitoring and surveillance systems (MoSS) are in place. An online survey with three species individual questionnaires was conducted. The target groups were official veterinarians (OVs)
and food business operators (FBOs) in Europe. We focused on i) whether official or private MoSS were in place, ii) the stage at which the testing was conducted, iii) the test methods, and iv) the test matrices used. In total, 34 participants from 15 countries answered the broiler questionnaire, 51 participants from 17 countries answered the pig questionnaire and 58 participants from 18 countries answered for bovines. Out of the 143 participants, 62% were OVs and 28% were FBOs. The results showed MoSS were mostly in place for pathogens that are already controlled by EU regulations, e.g., Salmonella for all three animal species. In these cases, if HEIs for the regulated pathogens exist and if they are in line with the legal requirements, on average most participants (> 50%) applied these HEIs. Other HEIs that focused on a different stage of the food chain for the same pathogen which is not legally regulated were mostly stated not to have been implemented; the same with HEIs for other pathogens, e.g., Yersinia enterocolitica for pigs. Although most of the participants were performing the mandatory monitoring, the results revealed some deficiencies regarding the
application of the correct diagnostics; test matrices and test methods did not match. HEIs provide very valuable data, especially in terms of the novel RB-MSAS, but the survey showed that they are underutilised throughout Europe at the moment.