EFSA Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment on Salmonella in Slaughter and Breeder pigs

In this project we developed a generic Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment (QMRA) on Salmonella in slaughter and breeder pigs that could be used in all EU states. The aims of the QMRA were to assess the expected reduction of Salmonella cases in humans in EU countries by different interventions at different points of the food chain.

In order to facilitate the investigation of interventions at different points of the food chain, a farm-to-consumption framework was adopted, so that we could model the prevalence of infection / contamination and the microbial load from the farm to the point of consumption of different pork products. The probability of illness could then be estimated by applying a dose-response model using the estimated amount of Salmonella bacteria ingested at consumption as an input.