This paper presents the results of a research program that was aimed at evaluating: (1) sensory evaluation of meat from entire male pigs, (2) preventive measures to reduce boar taint prevalence, (3) accuracy of detection for boar taint, and (4) the relationship between farm management characteristics and levels of mounting and aggressive behaviour of boars. Using observational and experimental studies data were collected in various segments of the pork supply chain. Consumer acceptance of meat from entire male pigs was evaluated. The effectiveness of preventive measures to reduce boar taint prevalence was determined. The relationship of farm (management) characteristics with boar taint prevalence, animal behaviour, skin lesions and lameness respectively was analysed. The similarity of the rank order between consumer perception of odour and human nose scores, skatole and androstenone levels respectively was determined. Consumers evaluate meat that passed the boar taint detection test comparable to meat from gilts. Meat samples that did not pass this test were evaluated less favourable. Ranking AI boars on their genomic breeding values for low boar taint resulted in a reduction in boar taint prevalence of 40%. The skatole level is lower in boars fed via a long trough than in boars fed by a single space feeder. Few eating places, restricted feeding, a low level of amino acids in the diet, insufficient water supply of the drinking system, illness of the pigs, a suboptimal climate and fear for humans were associated with a higher level of sexual and aggressive behaviour and more skin lesions. A partly open pen wall, clean pens and pigs, wider gaps of the slats, feeding by a long trough, and feeding wet by-products were associated with less sexual and aggressive behaviour and less skin lesions. Having more than 30 animals per pen was associated with a higher probability of high boar taint prevalence levels. Hygienic conditions were associated with lower boar taint prevalence levels. Assessing similarity of the rank order comparison between consumer perception and three selected boar taint detection parameters for the consumer perception attribute odour of meat resulted in the highest Kendall's W values for the human nose scores. In conclusion, boar tainted meat was rated as less pleasant by consumers compared to meat of gilts and non-tainted boar meat, indicating the need of detection as a safety net at the slaughter line. Breeding was an effective preventive measure to reduce boar taint. Farms with appropriate management, feeding and housing conditions have reduced levels of mounting and aggressive behaviour. Human nose scores were a better predictor of the rank order of consumer perception, compared to skatole levels and to androstenone levels. (C) 2015 Royal Netherlands Society for Agricultural Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Design of a Risk based Control System for Toxoplasma gondii in a pork supply chainHeres L.(1)*, Swanenburg M.( 2) , de Koeijer A. A.( 2), Boender G.J.( 2), Oorburg D. (1), Urlings B

Toxoplasma gondii has frequently been named as one of the most important foodborne pathogens, in terms of its impact on human health.EFSA advised to include serological testing of pigs on T. gondii infections and audits of pig farms on risk factors for T. gondii infection (EFSA, 2011).In order to generate knowledge about the epidemiology and prevalence of T. gondii infections in pig herds we studied the long term seroprevalence on farms, persistence of infection and variation in results between and within farms.Sera which were routinely taken in Dutch pig slaughterhouses in the Netherlands for the serological monitoring of Mycobacterium avium infections in pigs (Hiller 2013) were also tested for anti T. gondii antibodies.Results of 120,666 sera, collected from January 2012 until August 2014, showed an average of 2% serological prevalence in pigs.Pigs from organic farms had a prevalence of 3,6%.Farm prevalence was much higher, ranging from approximately 30% for conventional farms to 90% for organic farms.Pigs delivered to the slaughterhouse during winter months had a higher prevalence than pigs delivered during summer months.It could be concluded that serological monitoring can be very useful in detecting farms infected with T. gondii.A test cut off of 20PP was the most appropriate.

The pork chain has been seriously affected by dioxin incidents in recent decades. Hence, monitoring dioxins is crucial for detecting contaminations in the pork chain. This study aims to develop a decision support tool (optimization model) to determine cost-effective monitoring schemes for detecting and tracing a dioxin contamination over multiple control points along the pork production chain.The optimization model considers four control points (i.e. at the supplier of fatty feed ingredients, the feed mill, the slaughterhouse and the fat melting facility) and a weekly monitoring period. It was applied to several hypothetical contamination scenarios involving contaminated animal fatty feed ingredients.The cost-effective allocation of resources for detecting and tracing the dioxin contamination from an integrated chain approach (i.e. considering all control points) focuses on monitoring at the feed mill, followed by the supplier of fatty feed ingredients and – to a lesser extent – by the slaughterhouse. The number of contaminated feed mills, the frequency of dioxin contaminations, the required level of effectiveness, and the cost of screening are main factors driving the total monitoring costs.Sharing the responsibility of monitoring dioxins within control points along the chain largely reduces the total monitoring costs. In each of the evaluated scenarios, the total costs of monitoring dioxins at individual control points are larger than the costs resulting from an optimal allocation of resources among all control points integrated in one overarching chain monitoring scheme. These results elicit the economic benefits of a chain approach to monitoring dioxins over an approach where each chain actor independently monitors dioxins. The developed model can be used by decision makers in the feed and food industry for determining optimal schemes for monitoring dioxins in the pork chain focusing on preventing specific contaminations.

In the Netherlands, livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) has been found in pigs, veal calves, horses and poultry. However, little is known about its prevalence in healthy dairy cattle. Recently, a new mec gene, called mecC, has been found in methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) isolates from humans and animals in several countries. The objective of our pilot study was to investigate the prevalence of MRSA (mecA and mecC) in dairy cows at a large slaughterhouse. Samples from the skin between the udder and hind leg were taken from 411 cows. The samples were incubated in Mueller-Hinton enrichment broth with 6.5% NaCl, followed by selective enrichment and plated onto Columbia agar with 5% sheep blood, Brilliance MRSA 2 agar and Baird-Parker agar. Suspected colonies were tested by PCR for a S. aureus specific DNA fragment, the mecA and mecC genes and the Panton-Valentine leucotoxin (PVL) genes. All MRSA isolates and methicillin-susceptible S. aureus (MSSA) isolates were typed by spa typing and MLVA typing. Sixteen of 411 (3.9%) cows, all originating from different farms, were found to be MRSA positive and this prevalence is lower than in Dutch pigs, veal calves and broilers. All MRSA isolates belonging to livestock-associated MLVA complex 398, were PVL-negative and spa type t011 predominated. MSSA isolates (n=39) were of many different MLVA types and spa type t543 was found most often. Four MSSA isolates belonging to MLVA clonal complex 398 and spa types t011 (n=2), t108 and t034 were isolated from different MRSA-negative animals. In conclusion, the prevalence of MRSA in dairy cows was low and isolates carrying the mecC gene were not found, indicating that it is absent or has a low prevalence (<0.73%) in Dutch dairy cows.

Secure animal health is of utmost importance for human health, animal welfare, resource efficiency and the effectiveness of livestock production. Food safety hazards, zoonotic diseases and the use of pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics have potential impacts on human health and wellbeing. Therefore, on-farm health and risk management is crucial to safeguard animal products as well as trade with livestock. Appropriate infrastructures for preventive health management to improve animal and human health and wellbeing are at the core of a 'one health' approach with provides a challenge at all levels of science and business.

Secure animal health is of utmost importance for human health, animal welfare, resource efficiency and the effectiveness of livestock production. Food safety hazards, zoonotic diseases and the use of pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics have potential impacts on human health and wellbeing. Therefore, on-farm health and risk management is crucial to safeguard animal products as well as trade with livestock. Appropriate infrastructures for preventive health management to improve animal and human health and wellbeing are at the core of a 'one health' approach with provides a challenge at all levels of science and business. This chapter will inform you about: which structures have been established and which innovations have been made in riskoriented animal health and food safety management; how animal health management services and health status certification can be organised according to the AMOR principles; how and why on-farm biosecurity requirements have changed and how management support should be organised to foster a future one-health strategy.

Pig farms in the Netherlands producing boars have different levels of boar taint prevalence, as assessed by sensory evaluation with the human nose at the slaughter line. With a questionnaire to 152 Dutch pig producers (response rate 59%), farm and management characteristics were identified that are potentially associated with farm-level boar taint prevalence. Lower farm-level boar taint prevalence was associated with a smaller group size, a smaller pen surface per boar, newer housing equipment, not practicing restricted feeding in the last period before delivery, a longer fasting period before slaughter, a higher stocking weight and a lower fraction of boars from purebred dam line sows or from Pietrain terminal boars. These characteristics can be used to develop farm-level intervention strategies to control boar taint. More research effort is needed to establish causal relationships.

No automated detection system for boar taint detection is currently available, thus boar taint at the slaughterline can currently only be assessed using the singeing method (olfactory scoring). This study compares several heating methods (microwave, soldering iron and pyropen) and evaluates the effect of habituation, cleaning the soldering iron, singeing the fat twice in the same place, and variations in the technical procedures. All methods seem to be suitable for detecting boar taint but the choice of heating method for sensory scoring of boar taint depends on habituation of the trained assessor and specific conditions applied. The pyropen seems to be most suitable because it does not contact the fat and is easy to handle (wireless). Finally, the intensity score may also be influenced by: contamination from not cleaning the soldering iron, singeing the fat twice in the same place, and the effect of habituation.

A system for sensory evaluation of boar taint was used to evaluate boar taint in fat samples from 6574 entire males. The term "human nose scoring" has been used to describe this system. The samples from each boar were heated with a hot iron and three panelists assigned scores of 0 to 4. The reproducibility of HNS ranged from 0.19 to 0.32 reflecting natural variation in the ability of human beings to detect different odors. The correlations of HNS with androstenone ranged from 0.22 to 0.52, while those with skatole ranged from 0.31 to 0.89, suggesting that skatole is a better predictor of boar taint. Considering (1) the relationship of HNS with the boar taint compounds, (2) the ability of HNS to capture variation not accounted for by the boar taint compounds, (3) low estimation costs and (4) low time requirements, HNS can be used in large scale evaluations of boar taint.

Regulation (EC) 854/2004 opens up the opportunity to implement risk based meat inspection of fattening pigs without incision. A concept for implementation of a food safety improving meat inspection without incision was approved in practice and evaluated. It includes a serological monitoring for categorising pig herds according to the risk related to food safety concerning Mycobacterium ovum, a specific test to detect residues of antimicrobial substances and to fulfill the criteria of Regulation (EC) 1244/2007. The concept is suitable for practical implementation. In comparison to the traditional meat inspection system the new system enables control of food safety hazards on farm level. Omitting of incision of the mandibular lymph nodes showed a significant reduction in the cross contamination of Salmonella.

Vorteile der Produktion nicht kastrierter Eber werden gesteigertes Wohlbefinden der Schweine, hohere Produktionseffizienz fur Produzenten und eine bessere Wahrnehmung durch die Verbraucher sein. Die Produktion nicht kastrierter Eber setzt die Moglichkeit voraus, andere Verarbeitungswege fur Produkte mit Ebergeruch zu entdecken und zu finden, sowie eine internationale Akzeptanz von Produktionssystemen mit nicht kastrierten Ebern. Dieses Papier fasst die Moglichkeiten zusammen, zu vermeiden, dass Schweinefleisch mit abweichendem Geruch den Verbraucher erreicht, indem 1) Ebergeruch im lebenden Tier verhindert und verringert wird, und 2) Tierkorper mit abweichendem Geruch und die Verwendung von Produkten mit abweichendem Geruch in weiterverarbeitetem Fleisch erkannt werden. Eine erhebliche Verringerung ist moglich durch genetische Selektion, Futter- und Hofmanagement. Dies wird einige Zeit dauern und nicht zu Produkten fuhren, die zu 100% frei von Ebergeruch sind. Eine international anerkannte und zuverlassige Erkennungsmethode am Schlachtband in den Fleischverarbeitungswerken steht noch nicht zur Verfugung, wird aber untersucht. Die Produktion nicht kastrierter Eber bietet eine grosartige Gelegenheit fur die Zukunft, aber in der Zwischenzeit ist die Kastration bei minimalen Schmerzen ein gangbarer Weg.

Discussion to stop castration has now reached the c onsumer level as even the supermarkets are starting to offer meat from non-castrated anima ls. Changing the production system from castrates to entire males will have positive conseq uences for farm economy. However, there are some potential risks in terms of animal welfare lik aggression and mounting, and a serious risk in terms of having pork with boar tain . Most literature addresses boar taint as a function of androstenone and skatole, accepting the possibility of a third or even more components. At present there is no device available that can assess the risk of boar taint in the slaughter lin . If and where needed the market has adopted a human test; heating a piece of fat on the carcass and assessing the absence or presence of boar taint. In this study this test is addressed as ‘the slaughter line panel’ (SLP). In addition a group of 155 consumers addressed as ‘ consumer panel’ scored selected meat samples for smell and taste related traits. These d ata were used to study the relationship between the boar taints compounds (androstenone and skatole) and subjective evaluations by the expert slaughter line panel and the evaluati ons by the ‘average’ consumer and to evaluate the effectiveness of genetic selection aga inst boar taint.

1. The aim of the experiments was to evaluate whether selected probiotic lactobacillus strains have different immunomodulating effects in layer- and meat-type strain chickens. 2. Humoral and cellular specific and non-specific immune responses were studied by experiments on cellular proliferation, entry and survival of Salmonella bacteria in gut and spleen leukocytes, immunoglobulin isotypes and specific immunoglobulin titres. 3. The effects of two different feeding regimes (short and continuous feeding) and doses for administration of lactobacilli were studied. 4. The lactobacillus strains that were evaluated showed modulating effects on the immune system of layer- and meat-type chickens. 5. In meat-type strain chickens the lactobacilli had a stimulating effect when the chickens were young (up to 3 weeks) and the dose was relatively high, whereas in layer-type chickens a lower effective dose and discontinuous administration was also effective. 6. Immunoprobiotic lactobacilli can have a positive effect on humoral and cellular immune responses in layer- and meat-type strain chickens, but the lactobacillus strain to be used, the age of the animals and effective dose of lactobacilli to be administered need to be optimised.

In the light of food safety and the control of Salmonella at chicken farms, fermented liquid feed (FLF) was studied. This moistened feed reduced the susceptibility of chickens for Salmonella. To assess the effect of the fermented feed on the transmission of Salmonella between chickens, a transmission experiment was performed. Salmonella shedding was followed within groups of two susceptible chickens together with two previously inoculated chickens. The between-chicken transmission was quantified by calculating a reproduction ratio (R0) and a transmission rate parameter (beta). R0 and beta in the FLF-treated groups were reduced, but a typical infectious chicken fed with FLF, could on average still infect more than one new infectious case. FLF can therefore reduce the transmission of Salmonella in chicken flocks, but it will not prevent the occurrence of major outbreaks.

To intervene cycles of food-borne pathogens in poultry new intervention methods need to be tested for their effectiveness. In this paper a statistical method is described that was applied to quantify the observed differences between test groups and control groups.Treated chickens and their controls were inoculated with several doses and were daily examined for the shedding of the tested pathogens.For these infection experiments with individually housed chickens and where binary data were available for each individual chicken a Bayesian analysis employing Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) was applied for the statistical analyses. The Cox' proportional hazard reflected the typical features of the data, i. e. dependency, waiting-time structure and censoring. The outcomes of the analyses are two measures of difference in susceptibility between the feed groups. The first effect measure is a relative risk of being infected. The second is a difference in waiting time or a difference in inoculation dose to get a comparable proportion of infected animals.