February 14, 2011

Spanish pigs infected with cat parasite

16% of Spainish pigs carry the cat parasite Toxoplasma gondii, which can be passed on to humans by way of improperly cooked pork, according to researchers in Spain and the US.

The researchers showed that the parasite was present in 24.2% of the sows and 9.7% of the fattening pigs. The added that farms with a rodent problem or many cats have a higher risk of carrying the parasite.

Besides Spain, Toxoplasma gondii is also common in other countries: Italy (16.3%), Portugal (15.6%) and Germany (16.5 -18.5%). Considering that the annual German production is 45 million pigs, this means that each year about 7.5 million infected carcasses enter the food chain.

Higher values are seen in Serbia (28.9%) and Poland (26.4%). Lower values are seen in Sweden (5.2%) and the Netherlands (10.9%). In the last few years, the Netherlands made great efforts to fight Toxoplasma gondii in the Dutch pig population.