Use of non-nutritional feed additives against foodborne Salmonella infection with special reference to pork

Foodborne diseases are serious public health, economic and food safety issues, among them the role of Salmonella in pork is one of major interest.

- Sanjib Borah and Simson Soren

A report from European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in 2013 indicated that there was 80.3 million cases of foodborne salmonellosis in humans per year in the world and nearly 56.8% were related to pigs, pork and pork products. Effective Salmonella control programmes have been proven in poultry in many countries, however, some challenges is still faced by the pig industry to minimize Salmonella contamination in the farm-to-fork approach as there is no unique strategy for eradication of Salmonella in pig herd. Therefore, implementation of biosecurity, sanitation, vaccination, medication and management are crucial measures. Salmonella is one of the major foodborne diseases around the world. Because of its endemic and high morbidity nature, it makes this a zoonotic pathogen as well as public health issue. Animal origin foods are the mainly accountable for this serious problem and among other meat products, pork is of remarkable interest. Salmonella enteritis and Salmonella typhimurium (S. typhimurium) are responsible for most of the human salmonellosis or enteric fever. Literature indicates that the enteric fever is largely prevalent in the low and middle income countries of South Asia. S. typhimurium is the leading cause of the disease cases responsible for 12 -21 million infirmity episodes and over 140,000 causalities per year globally. Previous studies conducted between 1995 and 2006 in India estimated the incidence of salmonellosis was 178–801 per 100,000 people per years with the highest incidence in early age individuals. Foods derived from animal origin are the main responsible for these serious problems and among other meat products, pork has a significant interest, and however, there may be some variation among countries.