RRD 29: Programme M01 – Meat hygiene – Microbiological safety

The Agency is committed to reducing the incidence of foodborne illness. Red and white fresh meat production can introduce foodborne pathogens into the food chain. Fresh meat can be the direct cause of illness due to inadequate cooking or, perhaps more importantly, the indirect cause of illness due to cross-contamination of ready to eat foods.

A Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) system is an internationally accepted food safety management system, which aims to ensure that food is produced safely with minimal risk to the consumer. This programme of research aims to provide data to underpin the development, application and verification of HACCP systems in the production of meat.

The hygienic slaughter and dressing of animals aims to avoid contamination of the carcass from faeces, gut contents or from the environment. Following dressing the carcass is inspected. Current and future research is aimed at providing risk-based information to form the basis for modernised meat hygiene controls, including enhanced inspection systems focused on controlling foodborne pathogens and improving public health.

Data gathering and assessment relevant to Trichinella in the UK

Trichinellosis is a zoonotic disease caused by parasitic nematodes of the genus Trichinella. In Europe trichinellosis has been described as an emerging or re- emerging disease. Humans and other mammals acquire the infection following the consumption of raw or inadequately cooked meat contaminated with infectious larvae. The most common sources are pig meat, horse meat wild boar and other game meat. Infection in these animal species can be introduced via the consumption of infected wildlife directly or contaminated feed. Trichinella can cause serious disease in humans and so measures need to be in place to prevent contaminated meat reaching the consumer. Regulation (EC) No 2075/2005 details the obligations for the Competent Authority to systematically examine animals slaughtered on their territory at post mortem that may be infected with Trichinella. The UK has tested at post mortem all horse meat and all pig meat destined for export and records for at least the last ten years show no positives were detected. From 1975 to date there have been 39 laboratory confirmed reports of human Trichinella infection in England and Wales. The suspected source of infection is not always stated but all cases are believed to have been acquired abroad or from consumption of infected meat brought into the UK.

The EU regulations provide a framework for farms or regions producing fattening pigs to be declared of negligible risk from Trichinella and pigs from these farms or regions are subject to a reduced level of testing at slaughter. To qualify for negligible risk certain conditions must be met which includes having in place a risk-based annual surveillance programme of wildlife susceptible to Trichinella that continues to demonstrate that the prevalence in the chosen indicator wildlife species is low and to consider serological monitoring of breeding pigs.

The only record of Trichinella spp. in wildlife in Great Britain is a single record in a fox in 1957. In Northern Ireland one fox originating from Eniskillen county Fermanagh tested positive in 2007. The isolate was sent to the Community Reference Laboratory in Rome and was identified as T.spiralis. No other wildlife cases have been reported in the literature. Tests undertaken in Great Britain have demonstrated that the prevalence of Trichinella in the fox population is less than 0.1%. All the information gathered so far indicates that Trichinella does not exist in Great Britain but does exist in Northern Ireland. Data from foxes and other wildlife that is continually collected will provide the Agency with a mechanism to detect the introduction of the disease into the wildlife in Great Britain should it occur and to monitor the prevalence of the disease in Northern Ireland.

The Agency has started the process with the commission in an attempt to gain region of negligible risk status for GB and to permit trichinella free holdings in NI.

The work required will be to continue to obtain and test foxes to ensure demographic coverage of the UK and to continue to assess the value of testing of other wildlife species and animals at slaughter and to include them in the testing programme where appropriate. In addition an assessment of the value of and if appropriate the use of serological testing methods should be included. The Agency has funded previous projects on data collection in wildlife and the assessment of all available UK data including data generated from testing animals at slaughter. In an attempt to harmonise data collection within the EU the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) are funding a project to develop harmonised data collecting methods for parasites including Trichinella and the Agency is providing part funding for the UK involvement in this work. The outputs from the previous Agency funded work and the current EFSA study should be taken into account.

Applicants for the analytical data generation part of this work will need to have laboratories that have been assessed for testing competence by the UK National Reference Laboratory (NRL) and must take part in the ongoing QA monitoring programme organised by the NRL.

Proposals are therefore invited to:

Requirement Reference: M01R0013 - Gather and assess appropriate data on trichinella in the UK to support the UK case for risk based monitoring of pigs at slaughter

Before preparing your proposals please contact the named person below for advice and information on the specific scientific issues or the policy background/objectives:

Mary Howell, Microbiological Safety and TSE Division,
Tel: 020 7276 8373 or 07810 756071
E-mail: E-mail: mary.howell@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Proposals should be sent, to be received by 17:00 hrs on Thursday 11 December 2008 to:

E-mail: FSA_Remind@foodstandards.gsi.gov.uk

Post:
Abrar Jaffer
Microbiological Safety and TSE Division
Food Standards Agency
Room 515B, Aviation House
125 Kingsway
London WC2B 6NH