Inactivation of Toxoplasma gondii in dry sausage and processed pork, and quantification of the pathogen in pig tissues prior to production

作者：Filip Dámek, Bastien Frémaux, Dominique Aubert, Sandra Thoumire, Maxime Delsart, Jean‐Luc Martin, Sandra Vuillermet, Marieke Opsteegh, Pikka Jokelainen, Delphine Le Roux, Pascal Boireau, Isabelle Villena, Radu Blaga · 发表于：Food and Waterborne Parasitology · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.1016/j.fawpar.2023.e00194 · 被引用次数：6 · 研究领域：Toxoplasma gondii Research Studies、Parasitic Infections and Diagnostics、Herpesvirus Infections and Treatments

Toxoplasma gondii is an important zoonotic foodborne parasite. Meat of infected animals appears to be a major source of infection in Europe. Pork is the most consumed meat in France, with dry sausages well represented. The risk of transmission via consumption of processed pork products is largely unknown, mainly since processing will affect viability but may not entirely inactivate all T. gondii parasites. We investigated the presence and concentration of T. gondii DNA in the shoulder, breast, ham, and heart of pigs orally inoculated with 1000 oocysts (n = 3) or tissue cysts (n = 3) and naturally infected pigs (n = 2), by means of magnetic capture qPCR (MC-qPCR). Muscle tissues of experimentally infected pigs were further used to evaluate the impact of manufacturing processes of dry sausages, including different concentrations of nitrates (0, 60, 120, 200 ppm), nitrites (0, 60, 120 ppm), and NaCl (0, 20, 26 g/kg), ripening (2 days at 16–24 °C) and drying (up to 30 days at 13 °C), by a combination of mouse bioassay, qPCR and MC-qPCR. DNA of T. gondii was detected in all eight pigs, including in 41.7% (10/24) of muscle samples (shoulder, breast and ham) and 87.5% (7/8) of hearts by MC-qPCR. The number of parasites per gram of tissue was estimated to be the lowest in the hams (arithmetic mean (M) = 1, standard deviation (SD) = 2) and the highest in the hearts (M = 147, SD = 233). However, the T. gondii burden estimates varied on the individual animal level, the tissue tested and...