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DIN Standards Committee Food and Agricultural Products

Overview

Trichinella (Trichinella spp.) is the causative agent of trichinosis in humans, a disease that poses a public health threat and, as a consequence, an economic problem in pig breeding. Because of the zoonotic importance of this infection in many countries, efforts are mainly focused on control and/or eradication of Trichinella in domestic pigs, which are the most important source of human infection worldwide. Digestion methods for the detection of Trichinella larvae in muscle samples from pigs and other susceptible species intended for human consumption (for example, horses, wild boar, walruses, and bears) may be used to prevent clinical trichinosis in humans, but not to prevent infection. This standard specifies a method of detection of Trichinella spp. muscle stage larvae in meat of individual animal carcasses intended for human consumption. It is applicable to the examination of meat from domestic and sylvatic animal species, which can be infected by nematodes of the genus Trichinella. This method does not allow the identification of the species or genotype of detected parasites; species or genotype identification can be carried out by molecular methods. The method described in this International Standard is intended to be used in conjunction with the guidelines in the OIE Manual of Diagnostic Tests and Vaccines and by the International Commission on Trichinellosis (ICT) for Trichinella testing and the inspection of carcasses intended for human consumption, unless it has been demonstrated by other means that the animal was not at risk for exposure to Trichinella. The artificial digestion/magnetic stirrer method is considered to be the standard method because it has proven to give the most reliable results in validation studies. The committee NA 057-01-06 AA "Microbiology of the food chain" at DIN is responsible for this standard. The committee responsible for this standard is NA 057-01-06 AA "Mikrobiologie der Lebensmittelkette" ("Microbiology of the food chain") at DIN.

Document: references other documents

Responsible national committee

NA 057-01-06 AA - Microbiology of the food chain  

Responsible european committee

CEN/TC 463 - Microbiology of the food chain