Efficacy of cleaning and disinfection on pig farms in Ireland

Abstract

Little is known about the effectiveness of the cleaning and disinfection methods used on commercial pig farms either in Ireland or worldwide. A National Salmonella Control Programme was implemented in Ireland in August 2002 to monitor and control the infection of pigs with Salmonella species. Commercial pig herds must be categorised according to their Salmonella status as either category 1, 2 or 3, having a serological prevalence of infection with Salmonella serotypes up to 10 per cent, between 10 and 50 per cent or more than 50 per cent, respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of washing and disinfecting finisher units on category 1 and category 3 farms in reducing or eliminating the levels of contamination. Counts of Enterobacteriaceae were used as indicators of the contamination of the environment with enteric bacteria, which could include Salmonella species. Samples were taken from the pen floors, feeders and drinkers of seven category 1 and seven category 3 farms, and Enterobacteriaceae and salmonellae were enumerated in each sample. The results suggested that intensive cleaning and disinfection was effective at reducing levels of Enterobacteriaceae on the pen floors of both categories, but that residual contamination remained on the surfaces of the feeders and drinkers on all the farms, particularly on the category 3 farms.

Longitudinal Study ofSalmonellaDispersion and the Role of Environmental Contamination in Commercial Swine Production Systems

“…A recent study conducted in pig barns showed that the cleaning and disinfection protocol used effectively reduced the level of Salmonella; however, there was not complete elimination of Salmonella using cleaning and disinfection procedures in the barns. This finding suggests that there is a need for multiple intervention procedures at different stages or perhaps more stringent disinfection protocols in swine production environments (18). An in vitro trial in our laboratory showed that some strains of Salmonella may develop tolerance to biocides, including commonly used disinfectants (unpublished data).…”

Evaluation of commonly-used farm disinfectants in wet and dry models ofSalmonellafarm contamination

“…Typically they employ yeast either as whole killed cells or an extract and/or serum albumin to simulate dirty conditions. The limitations of C&D in Salmonella-contaminated layer and pig units have been documented (Wales et al, 2006(Wales et al, , 2009Mannion et al, 2007), and in the authors' experience some disinfectants with proven performance in the standard tests do not appear to be as efficacious in field situations. There are many possible reasons for the failure of a disinfectant to perform as desired in a farm environment, and these include: unsuitable dilutions or coverage rates being used, inadequate prior cleaning (Ward et al, 2005(Ward et al, , 2006, and difficulties with access particularly in accommodation with complex equipment such as layer hen houses.…”

Evaluation of three intervention strategies to reduce the transmission of Salmonella Typhimurium in pigs

“…The pathogen is common, persists in the environment, and infections with most serovars occur without any obvious symptoms (Davies et al, 2004;EFSA, 2008). Although hygiene and biosecurity on-farm are of paramount importance in decreasing Salmonella seroprevalence in slaughterhouses (Hotes et al, 2011), Salmonella-free housing cannot be obtained simply by cleaning and disinfection regimens at farm level (Mannion et al, 2007;McLaren et al, 2011). Hence, such regimens should be combined with other measures as part of an overall strategy to control Salmonella on-farm (Wales et al, 2009).…”