Residual contamination detection and serovar distribution of Listeria monocytogenes isolates in pork slaughterhouse and cutting facilities in province of Quebec

Toxoplasma gondii has frequently been named as one of the most important foodborne pathogens, in termsof its impact on human health. EFSA advised to include serological testing of pigs on T. gondii infections andaudits of pig farms on risk factors for T. gondii infection (EFSA, 2011). In order to generate knowledge about theepidemiology and prevalence of T. gondii infections in pig herds we studied the long term seroprevalence on farms,persistence of infection and variation in results between and within farms. Sera which were routinely taken inDutch pig slaughterhouses in the Netherlands for the serological monitoring of Mycobacterium avium infectionsin pigs (Hiller 2013) were also tested for anti T. gondii antibodies. Results of 120,666 sera, collected from January2012 until August 2014, showed an average of 2% serological prevalence in pigs. Pigs from organic farms had aprevalence of 3,6%. Farm prevalence was much higher, ranging from approximately 30% for conventional farmsto 90% for organic farms. Pigs delivered to the slaughterhouse during winter months had a higher prevalencethan pigs delivered during summer months.It could be concluded that serological monitoring can be very usefulin detecting farms infected with T. gondii. A test cut off of 20PP was the most appropriate. This project received financial support from TKI Agri&Food; and VION Food Group.