Risks to farm animals from pathogens in composted catering waste containing meat

Abstract

Uncooked meat may contain animal pathogens, including bovine spongiform encephalopathy, foot-and-mouth disease virus, African swine fever virus and classical swine fever virus, and to prevent outbreaks of these diseases in farm animals, the disposal of meat from catering waste is controlled under the Animal By-Products Regulations. This paper estimates the risks to farm animals of grazing land on to which compost, produced by the composting of catering waste containing meat, has been applied. The factors controlling the level of risk are the separation of the meat at source, the efficiency of the composting process, and the decay and dilution of the pathogens in soil. The net pathogen destruction by the composting process is determined largely by the degree of bypass, and to accommodate the possibility of large joints or even whole carcases being discarded uncooked to catering waste, a time/temperature condition of 60 degrees C for two days is recommended. Where data are lacking, worst-case assumptions have been applied. According to the model, classical swine fever virus constitutes the highest risk, but the assessment shows that a two-barrier composting approach, together with a two-month grazing ban, reduces the risk to one infection in pigs every 190 years in England and Wales. This work defined the operational conditions for the composting of catering waste as set out in the Animal By-Products Regulations 2003 (SI 1482).

The Influence of Temperature on the Russian Isolate of African Swine Fever Virus in Pork Products and Feed With Extrapolation to Natural Conditions

“…Recent publications have discussed the risk of ASFV introduction when importing pigs [10]. Illegal pork trade and the use of food waste in the animals feeding are recognized the most significant anthropogenic factors of the ASFV dissemination [20][21][22]. Moreover, a large number of private farms with their low bi-osafety level poses additional risks of the disease occurrence and dissemination Previously, Spanish researchers showed that ASFV could persist for several weeks or months in the frozen [23], freshly prepared or raw, as well as salted dried meat [24,25], which was in line with our findings When extrapolating our findings on natural and agricultural objects, it should be focused on the need to observe basic sanitary rules, given the fact that the virus can remain virulent for more than 2 weeks under favorable environment.…”

Bacterial Pathogen Occurrence and Persistence in Livestock Mortality Biopiles

“…As well, total and fecal coliforms, and Streptococcus fecalis can persist in simulated groundwater environments for six months [9]. In soil, bacteria tend to be confined to the top 10 cm [10], which prevents them from infiltrating other media [11] and encourages their inactivation [12]. Different bacteria species however, may persist due to differences in local soil conditions.…”

“…Different bacteria species however, may persist due to differences in local soil conditions. As an example, pathogenic bacteria that survive a composting process can leach into upper soil zones [12]. Though most pathogens do not survive the thermophilic conditions in livestock mortality biopiles (i.e., biopiles that are static compost piles), biopile homogeneity is critical since they may persist as clusters, in space and over time, in non-thermophilic zones [13].…”

Methods and microbial risks associated with composting of animal carcasses in the United States

“…Even if an assumption of zero reduction of BSE in compost was applied, composting and compost spread on pasture were deemed safe when a 2-tier (primary and secondary) composting system was used together with a 2-month grazing ban for the treated pasture. The study 67 concluded that CSF constituted the highest risk, but that by use of a 2-tier composting system and a 2-month grazing ban, the risk could be as low as 1 pig/every 190 years in the United Kingdom.…”

“…Following the type of scenarios and risk analyses for land application of catering waste used by Gale,67,68 the risk of substantially increasing the environmental and soil populations of C botulinum, compared with the existing background populations, appears small. In a simulation study, 69 the effects of 3 manurehandling methods (thermophilic composting at 55°C, manure packing at 25°C [77°F], and liquid lagoon storage) on Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis, Salmonella spp, E coli, and Listeria monocytogenes were investigated.…”