inner (gut content and lymph nodes) contamination of the same
pig, which highlights the major impact of the slaughterhouse environment
and slaughter process on the final contamination of the
carcass. As slaughterhouses vary in their capability of dealing with
Salmonella positive pigs (Botteldoorn et al., 2003; De Busser et al.,
2011), a slaughterhouse specific approach is needed. Classifying
slaughterhouses according to their Salmonella status might lead
to bigger efforts from these stakeholders to reduce the environmental
and carcass contamination level.
Decontamination of the carcass
Since January 2006, the use of substances other than potable or
clean water to remove microbial surface contamination from food
of animal origin is allowed in the EU (EC No. 853/2004), with the
restriction that product approval must be obtained from the EFSA
BIOHAZ Panel5 and that the decontamination treatment is an added
tool to good hygiene practices (Bertrand et al., 2010).