French scientist warns of dangerous parasite in UK pigs
The UK is underplaying the risk of contracting toxoplasmosis from home-reared pig meat, according to a French food safety expert who claims the parasite that causes the disease is endemic in the national herd.
Dr Pascal Boireau, a director at AFSSA, the French equivalent of the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA), and a specialist in parasitic contamination of the food chain is carrying out research into the extent of the infection in his own country. He said the threat was real and probably growing, but more studies were needed, especially into animal to animal transmission.
Although there are no figures to show the extent of infection in the UK, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) denies that toxoplasmosis is endemic. Meanwhile, the Food Standards Agency, which is more candid about its existence, warns pregnant women - who are at higher risk - against handling and eating raw and undercooked pork cuts, mince, and ready-meals.
Since the 1960s, when the UK herd was declared free of the potentially dangerous parasitic zoonoses trichinella, consumer advice from the Meat and Livestock Commission (MLC)¬ has implied that rare pork was no longer a source of danger. Boireau disagrees. “The UK is OK for trichinella, but for toxoplasmosis, no,” he said.
Elsewhere advice is confused. In the Irish Republic rare pork is declared safe to eat, while Northern Ireland follows the FSA's line, creating problems for organisations giving dietary advice across the island of Ireland.
Although toxoplasmosis can also be found in the soil and is known to be present in cat faeces, Boireau claims “80% of contamination is from meat”
He is particularly concerned about outdoor reared pork and the potential for cross contamination from wild boar, among whom infection rates in France are running at 10 to 20%.
At a meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food held at the FSA headquarters last week, the potential dangers of consumers contracting Heptitis E from undercooked pork joints were also highlighted.
In France, where there is still a problem with trichinella infected horse meat, Boireau's team is working on an automated microscopic technique for measuring trichinella larvae in muscle using artificial digestion. The technique will be presented at a scientific conference later this year.
