<i>Salmonella</i> Shedding in Slaughter Pigs and the Use of Esterified Formic Acid in the Drinking Water as a Potential Abattoir-Based Mitigation Measure
María Bernad-Roche | Alejandro Casanova-Higes | Clara María Marín-Alcalá | Raúl Carlos Mainar-Jaime
Pigs shedding <i>Salmonella</i> at slaughter are considered a source of carcass contamination and human infection. To assess this potential risk, the proportion of <i>Salmonella</i> shedders that arrive for slaughter was evaluated in a population of 1068 pigs from 24 farms. Shedding was present in 27.3% of the pigs, and the monophasic variant of <i>Salmonella</i> Typhimurium, an emerging zoonotic serotype, was the most prevalent (46.9%). Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in <i>Salmonella</i> isolates was common, but few isolates showed AMR to antimicrobials of critical importance for humans such as third-generation cephalosporins (5%), colistin (0%), or carbapenems (0%). However, AMR to tigecycline was moderately high (15%). The efficacy of an esterified formic acid in the lairage drinking water (3 kg formic acid/1000 L) was also assessed as a potential abattoir-based strategy to reduce <i>Salmonella</i> shedding. It was able to reduce the proportion of shedders (60.7% in the control group (CG) vs. 44.3% in the treatment group (TG); <i>p</i> < 0.01). After considering clustering and confounding factors, the odds of shedding <i>Salmonella</i> in the CG were 2.75 (95% CI = 1.80–4.21) times higher than those of the TG, suggesting a potential efficacy of reduction in shedding as high as 63.6%. This strategy may contribute to mitigating the burden of abattoir environmental contamination.
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