AN EFFICIENT SAMPLING TECHNIQUE USED TO DETECT 4 FOODBORNE PATHOGENS ON PORK AND BEEF CARCASSES IN 9 BELGIAN ABATTOIRS

The method presented in this paper should prove useful in assessing th e effectiveness of HACCP plans developed in slaughterhouses. Samples w ere collected by swabbing well-defined areas of pork and beef carcasse s with sterile gauze. Between 160 and 420 half-carcasses were swabbed in each of nine pork or beef slaughterhouses. Swabs from five carcasse s were placed in the same sterile Stomacher bag, constituting a single composite sample. Standard or validated analytical methods were used to isolate and characterize four foodborne pathogens. Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp., and verocytotoxin-produci ng E. coli were detected, respectively, in 27, 2, 2, and 14% of the po rk samples and 0, 22, 10, and 5% of the beef samples. Of the 10 sample s positive for E. coli O157, only one yielded an isolate confirmed to be enterohemorrhagic. Since Salmonella spp. appear as the main contami nant of pork (27%) and L. monocytogenes as the main contaminant of bee f (22%), any slaughterhouse sampling plan should include testing for t he former in the case of pork carcasses and for the latter in the case of beef carcasses. One should also test regularly for the presence of E. coli O157 and Campylobacter spp. in pork and beef abattoirs. The m ethod presented here is an easy way to assess the contamination rate o f carcasses at the end of the slaughtering process.