A Quebec-based company wants to give Canadian hog producers a stronger
defence against salmonella in their herds.
Genetiporc Inc. has started a $2 million research project aimed at
helping the pork industry reduce the prevalence of salmonella in meat.
The company plans to be the first large swine network in North America
to offer its customers replacement breeding stock that is certified
free of salmonella. The goal is to have those animals available within
five years.
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No other swine genetics company in North America has salmonella-free
animals across its entire system, according to Martin Bonneau,
Genetiporc’s director of health and production.
“We think people will eventually demand salmonella-free animals and we
intend to be the first company to provide that,” he said.
Salmonella is one of the bacteria responsible for food-borne illnesses
among North Americans.
Widespread consumer education on how to properly handle and cook raw
meat has helped limit the risk posed by the presence of the bacteria.
Genetiporc believes any effort to reduce the presence of salmonella
must start at the farm.
But that can be a daunting task for producers, since salmonella can be
spread through contaminated manure, nose-to-nose contact with infected
animals, rodents and birds carrying the bacteria, and contaminated
feed, water and trucks.
To produce salmonella-free animals, Genetiporc will do routine testing
of the hogs in the program. Those that are free of the bacteria will be
kept separate from the others, said Genetiporc’s marketing director
Rejean Bouchard.
Genetiporc is also working on guidelines meant to keep the selected
gilts salmonella free while being raised and shipped to producers,
Bouchard said.
Richard Arsenault, acting chief of the Canadian Food Inspection
Agency’s meat processing inspection programs, said the Genetiporc
initiative fits well with the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points
program. HACCP aims to look at all aspects of food production to ensure
the food is safe for consumers.
Finding ways to lessen the presence of bacteria in pork will be
important, said Arsenault, particularly when it comes to satisfying the
safety demands of countries that import Canadian pork.
The Genetiporc project also fits with efforts to address antimicrobial
resistance, Arsenault said. There’s concern that if too many
antibiotics are used in the treatment of livestock, bacteria with
resistance to antibiotics could emerge, making it difficult to treat
people who become sick because of the bacteria.
Genetiporc’s $2 million project is a joint venture with the University
of Montreal’s School of Veterinary Medicine. The university will
receive $600,000 from Genetiporc to do research under the direction of
the university’s food safety research chair.
Genetiporc will invest the remaining $1.4 million in research to be
done by its scientists working directly with Genetiporc animals within
its farm network.
Genetiporc’s main markets are Canada, the United States, Mexico,
Guatemala, Panama, the Dominican Republic and Brazil.
