Publikationsdatenbank

Use of harmonised epidemiological indicators (HEIs) for broilers in Europe (2023)

Art

Zeitschriftenartikel / wissenschaftlicher Beitrag

Autoren

Langkabel, Nina (WE 8)

Meemken, Diana (WE 8)

Li, Ting-Ting (WE 8)

Sotiraki, Smaragda

Anastasiadou, Sofia

Nesbakken, Truls

Langforth, Susann (WE 8)

Quelle

Food control

Bandzählung: 154

Seiten: Artikel 110020

ISSN: 0956-7135

Sprache

Englisch

Verweise

URL (Volltext): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0956713523004206

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodcont.2023.110020

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

In 2012, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) proposed harmonised epidemiological indicators (HEIs) for poultry at different production stages: Salmonella, Campylobacter, extended-spectrum β-lactamase/AmpC β-lactamase (ESBL/AmpC) producing Enterobacteriaceae and generic Escherichia (E.) coli. The HEIs are based on existing monitoring systems or the sampling strategies provided by EFSA. To realise the full benefit of HEIs, risk managers should use them for farm and abattoir categorisation and for adapting the existing meat inspection systems. As HEIs are not legal requirements within the European Union (EU), it is unclear which HEIs are used in which country, to date. Therefore, an online survey was conducted in Europe to gather knowledge about the implementation, application and consequences following on from the HEIs in existing official and private monitoring and surveillance systems (MOSS).

A total of 34 answer sets from participants working in the framework of official surveillance or as food business operators in broiler abattoirs were collected from eleven EU member states (EU-MS) and four non-EU countries.

While all participants stated that testing for Salmonella is performed, HEI 4-Salmonella, which corresponds to the process hygiene criterion (PHC) for Salmonella was applied by 62% of the participants. In total, 94% of the participants reported that they test for Campylobacter. Among them, 71% stated that testing is performed for HEI 5-Campylobacter, which corresponds to PHC for Campylobacter. Although testing neck skin samples for Salmonella and Campylobacter after chilling are official and mandatory MOSS in the EU, not all participants from EU-MS (Salmonella: 6/11 EU-MS; Campylobacter: 8/11 EU-MS) confirmed to comply with. Altogether, 56% of the participants (from 6 EU-MS and 2 non-EU countries) stated that they test for E. coli. Ten of them reported that the testing is performed at the abattoir after chilling according to the suggested HEI for generic E. coli as a hygiene indicator. Consequences that result from the existing MOSS for the three examined pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter and E. coli) were mainly rising awareness, farm risk categorisation and feedback to the farmer.

According to the answers from the participants, the HEIs suggested by EFSA for broilers are currently implemented in most EU-MS. One reason could be that some of the according MOSS are required by EU law. As intended by EFSA, the participants stated that they use HEIs for farm risk categorisation as one of the three top consequences following from MOSS for the three mentioned pathogens. For improving the knowledge and application of HEIs in the context of risk-based meat safety assurance systems, specific training could be helpful.