Control of Salmonella in the Pork Production Chain

Salmonella remains an important foodborne pathogen of concern to public health and therefore, the swine industry. Significant strides have been made at decreasing Salmonella contamination in one link of the pork chain, namely, at slaughter and processing. It is expected that standards at slaughter and processing will become more stringent, creating pressure from packers and processors to reduce prevalence of Salmonella-positive swine through on-farm interventions. In spite of the widely acknowledged value of controlling Salmonella in the live animal reservoir, and copious research endeavors, there is still much to learn about the control of Salmonella pre-harvest, as well as discerning the most cost-effective approaches to approaching control in the pork chain. This presentation is focused predominantly on on-farm interventions, as well as discussion of the needs for further information on cost-effective interventions across the pork chain.