KEEPING PENNSYLVANIA’S FOOD PRODUCTS SAFE

Charles E. Benson
School of Veterinary Medicine
University of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s food products have been incriminated in a variety of food-associated diseases for many years. Focused efforts to control or retard the spread of pathogens through foods began, in my experience, with the findings that eggs from Pennsylvania were contaminated with salmonellae. The organism is called Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis or SE and the NBC laboratories were the first in the country to demonstrate that SE could be isolated from the ovaries of infected hens implying transovarial transmission. This means that eggs containing SE could be laid and sold without any knowledge that the organisms were present. Poultry specialists along the Northeast coast worked to retard the dissemination of SE throughout flocks and subsequently into eggs. These efforts lead a USDA Task Force working with the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, poultry producers and academic institutions to develop specific guidelines for the management of flocks. This plan is called PEQAP (the Pennsylvania Egg Quality Assurance Plan) and has been in operation for nearly 10 years. About this same time, the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) issued guidelines (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points or HACCP) that were designed to insure contamination of food substances would not occur. The development of a HACCP protocol was assigned to each industry. In addition, President Clinton signed a bill to insure the safety of food from the “farm to the fork”. At NBC, we took the initiative to be more proactive and established the Salmonella Reference Center (SRC), to provide more immediate answers to identification and epidemiology questions. We then moved into a general surveillance mode to screen animals not yet implicated in a food-associated transmission case. We wanted to solve a problem before it occurred!

New strains of Salmonella are often seen in Europe and the UK before arriving in the US. One such strain (called DT 104) carries a minimum of five (5) drug resistant genes integrated in the genome and appears most frequently associated with cattle and swine. This strain presents a serious impact on the treatment of a human infection caused by this strain because of the wide spread of resistance to antibiotics. Herds, identified through referral of strange cases or unusual mortalities are rapidly screened using SRC specifically developed techniques for isolation and identification. Our veterinarian colleagues provide directions to the producers to change management methods. We also discovered another highly pathogenic strain of Salmonella that also carries multi-antibiotic resistant genes on a plasmid. Gradually headway is being made to search for these pathogens before they enter into the food system using the basic skills of both the veterinarian and the producer. Cost is considerably less, results are quickly observed as calf mortality drops and Pennsylvania food is safer for this proactive rather than reactive approach.

Biographical Sketch

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In an effort to provide wide-ranging views and perspectives regarding the practice of and issues surrounding agriculture, the Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture (PSPA) seeks speakers representing a variety of perspectives. The statements and opinions they present are strictly their own and do not necessarily represent the views of PSPA.