Stakeholders
The target groups entail the entire organic pork production chain from farmer to slaughterhouses to retail and finally the consumer. The result will also be relevant for organic control authorities and European Commission decision makers. Additionally, the obtained knowledge will be communicated to the scientific community in general. |
Expected Results
The SafeOrganic field-survey is expected to provide documentation of lower resistance levels in organic pork compared to conventionally produced pork. This higher food safety quality of organic pork can then be exploited by organic pork producers/industry and retailers in marketing.
SafeOrganic is expected to demonstrate that the slaughterhouse is a place for cross-contamination of organic pork with antibiotic resistant bacteria from conventional pigs. Such knowledge will be brought to the attention of the slaughter industry in order to optimise slaughter routines.
Aims to identify a link between characteristic antibiotic resistance/genotype profiles and antibiotic consumption. Such estimates of antibiotic consumption could help control bodies to discover violations of organic legislation and enhance the reliability of certification systems.
Provide documentation that sampling of pigs at the slaughterhouse offers an easy/cost-effective method to determine pathogen status of pigs in the farm of origin. |
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Will consumers benefit from restricted antibiotic usage in organic pigs? |
Main outcomes at this stage?
Antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from organic vs. conventional
pigs was in compared for approx. 25 herds of each production
system in Denmark, France, Italy and Sweden. Faeces sampled
at farm or at slaughterhouse from two to five pigs per herd was
analysed. Sampling of colon content at slaughter within four
hours from delivery was found to describe the AR status of the
herd with a reasonable certainty.
For both production systems, tetracycline (TET) resistance in
Escherichia coli was present in most herds in France, Italy and
Denmark. This was unexpected. However, the magnitude (proportion)
of TET resistance carried by individual animals seemed to
be lower in organic pigs than in conventional pigs. In Sweden,
the AR was generally low.
Resistance towards ampicillin, cefotaxime, chloramphenicol,
ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, nalidixic acid, streptomycin, sulphonamides,
tetracycline and trimethoprim was analysed for in 2-5 E.
coli isolates per pig. FThe conventional pigs had generally more
resistant E. coli than organic pigs, although differences was seen
between the four countries. This and the identification of potential
markers for imprudent use of AB is still under analysis.
The genes encoding resistances to chloramphenicol (cat), streptomycin
(strA), sulphonamides (sul2, sul1) and tetracycline (tetA,
tetB) were quantified for the total microbiota in the pig gut by
a non-culture dependent real-time PCR method. No significant
differences in AR gene levels were found, but conventional pigs
tended to carry higher levels.
Slaughtering organic and conventional pigs at the same line may
lead to cross-contamination of organic carcasses with AR from
conventional pigs. In France, organic pigs were slaughtered
before conventional pigs and in Denmark the opposite way.
The occurrence of tetracycline resistant E. coli in the intestines
differed significantly between conventional and organic pigs.
On the carcasses, there was apparently no longer any difference
and this may imply cross-contamination although the
mechanisms behind this are not yet clear.
Organic pigs may carry a more diverse bacterial population in the
gut due to less selective pressure from antimicrobials and this
could potentially characterize the organic pig. However, by PFGE
typing, almost every bacterial isolate of E. coli carried its own
PFGE profile and by this method there was no support of a larger
genetic diversity in organic pigs. Likewise, the assessment of the
diversity of the gut microbiota supported no substantial differences
between organic and conventional pigs.
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Background
Spread of antibiotic resistance along the food-chain is a major food safety concern due to the risk of treatment failure of human foodborne infections. Recent reports suggest that the restrictions on use of antibiotics in organic animal farming promote lower levels of antibiotic resistance in organic animal products as compared to conventional products. This is, however, scarcely documented in the EU, particularly for swine. Thus, the organic pig production is probably characterized by significant lower levels of antibiotic resistance and providing the documentation of this very important quality parameter of organic pigs holds the opportunity of exploiting this essential advantage of organic pork in marketing.
Project objectives
SafeOrganic will document whether the organic pigs in different European countries does show lower levels of antibiotic resistant bacteria compared
to the conventional pigs. Furthermore, there seems to be a widespread routine of slaughtering conventional and organic animals at the same slaughter lines without special hygiene barriers to avoid cross-contamination.
An important part of the project is therefore to investigate to which
degree antibiotic resistant bacteria
from conventional raised animals is transferred to organic meat during processing. Accordingly, SafeOrganic will assess and suggest management options, which can minimize the contact and hence risk of cross-contamination between the organic and the conventional meat products during slaughter. Information on the antibiotic use at farm level is normally not available, which hampers the authority control of imprudent use of antibiotics.
Therefore, SafeOrganic will investigate if bacterial antibiotic resistance patterns and genotypes can be used as markers for the consumption of antibiotics in organic animal production. The results obtained in the project will be communicated to end-users enabling the slaughter industry to reduce spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria, and organic animal farmers to market pork meat with very low levels of antibiotic resistant.
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Main Project Activities
Field-survey for comparison of the antibiotic resistance levels in organic and conventional pigs. Investigating to which level AR bacteria from conventional raised animals is transferred to organic meat when animals are slaughtered at the same processing line.
Assessing if the occurrence of certain bacterial AR patterns/genotypes can serve as markers for antibiotic usage in organic animal production. Evaluate the potential bias of sampling at the slaughterhouse as compared to at the herd. Communication of research findings to target groups. |
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SafeOrganic
Restrictive use of antibiotics in organic animal farming - a potential for safer, high quality products with less antibiotic resistant bacteria
6 partners, 5 countries
Coordinator
PhD, Research Leader Søren Aabo, Technical University of Denmark, National Food Institute, Denmark
Partners
Dr. Antonia Ricci, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale delle Venezie, Italy
Dr. Martine Denis, French Agency for Food, Environment, and Occupational Health Safety, France
DVM, PhD Björn Bengtsson, National Veterinary Institute, Sweden
Professor Anders Dalsgaard, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Assoc. Prof. Ivan Rychlik, Veterinary Research Institute, Czech Republic
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Links
The Danish research project QUALYSAFE (2005-2009)
investigated quality attributes in conventional and alternative animal farming and results indicated a lower occurrence of AR in organic pigs.
This lead to the hypothesis that this property may be common by organic pork production across Europe.
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