**2.2** *Salmonella* **in meat**

Pork and pork products are also recognized as one of the major sources of human *Salmonella* food poisoning. The commonly isolated non-typhoid *Salmonella* serovars in pigs, pork and humans is *S. typhimurium* (Astorga Marquez et al., 2007; Boyen et al., 2008; Perugini et al., 2010). During further processing of meat, such as cutting and mincing, *S. typhimurium* from contaminated pork cuts may then spread into pork preparations (Gonzales-Barron et al., 2010). The proportion of human *Salmonella* food poisoning attributable to pork has been estimated to be between 9 and 15% in Denmark and around 21% in Netherlands (EFSA, 2008; Hald et al., 2004). In Ireland, the pork meat has been identified as a significant source of *Salmonella* with an incidence of 2.9% as surveyed in processing plants (Gonzales-Barron, 2010b). A Belgian survey from 2000 to 2003 indicated that the mean prevalence values of S*almonell*a in 25 g samples of pork meat cuts and minced meat were 17.3% (95% CI: 15.0– 19.7%) and 11.1% (95% CI: 9.4–13.0%) (Ghafir et al., 2007, 2005), respectively.

#### **2.3** *Salmonella* **in poultry**

In the European Union, three of the top four serovars (*S. infantis*: 29.2%, *S. enteritidis*: 13.6%, *S. kentucky*: 6.2% and *S. typhimurium*: 4.4%, respectively) isolated from poultry are also found in the top four serovars (*S. enteritidis*: 58.0%, *S. typhimurium*: 21.9%, *S. infantis*: 1.1% and *S. virchow*: 0.7%, respectively) isolated from humans (EFSA, 2010c). The *S. soa* has rarely been reported to be isolated from poultry in Australia, which the very low prevalence of *Salmonella* food poisoning linked to *S. soa* suggests low virulence for humans (Duffy et al., 2011). A large percentage of poultry is colonized by salmonellas during grow-out, and the skin and meat of carcasses are frequently contaminated by the pathogen during slaughter and processing. In Brazil, the remarkable increase in the incidence of *S. enteritidis* from foodborne outbreaks, human infections, nonhuman sources, broiler carcasses and other poultry materials has been reported since the 1990s (Peresi et al., 1998; Fuzihara et al., 2000; Tavechio et al., 2002). Of the 281 chicken meat samples in Austria, 46 were positive for the occurrence of *Salmonella* (prevalence of 16.4%) as described by Mayrhofer et al., 2004.
