Commercial feed is the salmonella culprit

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Wonder how salmonella got in your pig barn? The most likely source is commercial feed, according to a paper published in the November 2010 issue of the journal Applied and Environmental Microbiology.

Scientists from the College of Veterinary Medicine, Ohio State University, tested feed in bins before it was exposed to the barn, and fecal and environmental samples inside the barn as well. Contaminated feed was found in eight of 36 barns tested. In four of five cases, the time and place of contaminated samples of feed and feces matched.

Team leader Wondwossen A. Gebreyes says the feed was mostly likely contaminated by ingredients, but contamination might also have occurred during handling. "Regardless, the findings strongly imply that salmonella can be maintained and easily disseminated in a population of food animals," the paper says.

"The findings suggest that pork could be a source of human infection. They also strongly question the conventional wisdom that processed feed is not a source of contamination. BP