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Characteristics of Organic Pig Production and risk analysis concerning Toxoplasma infection

Kijlstra, A.; Cornelissen, J.B. and Meerburg, B.G. (2007) Characteristics of Organic Pig Production and risk analysis concerning Toxoplasma infection. Paper at: 3rd QLIF Congress: Improving Sustainability in Organic and Low Input Food Production Systems, University of Hohenheim, Germany, March 20-23, 2007.

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Summary

A short written questionnaire was used to study certain characteristics of the organic pig production chain in The Netherlands and the circumstances on the farm that might play a role in the transmission of Toxoplasma infection to the pigs. Of the 81 certified organic slaughter pig farmers present in the Netherlands in 2006, 52 responded to the questionnaire (64 % response).
The farms could be divided into two populations. One population was represented by small organic pig farms with a mean number of 55 slaughtered pigs per year. These farms covered 40% of the total number of investigated farms, but only represented 2.5 % of the total number of slaughtered pigs. The second population had a mean annual production of 1460 animals. Almost 95% of these animals are currently slaughtered and further distributed by the Vion Food Group (de Groene Weg). A small part of the pigs (4%) is directly delivered to a slaughter company in Germany (Thönes) and 1% is sold via farm home sales.
For each farm an arbitrary Toxoplasma risk factor analysis was performed. Factors included the type of outdoor run (concrete or soil), feeding goat or sheep whey, number of cats, access of cats to outdoor run, stables and feed, rodent control and covering roughage fed to the animals. Calculation of the total risk score (summation of chance times severity scores for several factors) showed that many farmers already used management factors that decreased the risk for Toxoplasma infection. Analysis of a possible relation between risk score and farm size showed that a poor score was often seen on small farms. Because these farms mainly sell their meat in a frozen condition via home sales, this is not considered to represent a problem for food safety.
Further research is needed to investigate whether the risk for Toxoplasma can be maintained via on farm prevention or whether a Toxoplasma monitoring program should be implemented at slaughter, possibly with post slaughter decontamination. The fact that a recent report by the RIVM on food related infections has concluded that Toxoplasmosis has a markedly higher disease burden than Campylobacter or Salmonella, emphasizes the priority this subject should be given on the research agenda.


EPrint Type:Conference paper, poster, etc.
Type of presentation:Paper
Keywords:food safety, pigs, Toxoplasma gondii, cats, outdoor run, rodent control
Subjects: Animal husbandry > Production systems > Pigs
Research affiliation: Netherlands > Wageningen University & Research (WUR) > Animal Sciences Group ASG
International Conferences > 2007: 3rd QLIF Congress > 4 Livestock production
European Union > QualityLowInputFood > Subproject 4: Livestock production systems
Related Links:http://orgprints.org/10417/
Deposited By: Kijlstra, Prof. Dr. Aize
ID Code:10137
Deposited On:09 Mar 2007
Last Modified:12 Apr 2010 07:34
Document Language:English
Status:Published
Refereed:Peer-reviewed and accepted
Additional Publishing Information:The final version of this paper is published in:
Niggli, Urs; Leifert, Carlo; Alföldi, Thomas; Lück, Lorna and Willer, Helga, Eds. (2007) Improving Sustainability in Organic and Low Input Food Production Systems. Proceedings of the 3rd International Congress of the European Integrated Project Quality Low Input Food (QLIF). University of Hohenheim, Germany, March 20 – 23, 2007. Research Institute of Organic Agriculture FiBL, CH-Frick. http://orgprints.org/10417/
Printed copies may be ordered from the FiBL Shop at www.shop.fibl.org.

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