Salmonella spp. in food of animal origin: a continuous threat for public health? ; Salmonella spp. dans les denrées alimentaires d’origine animal : un réel problème de santé publique ?

peer reviewed ; Salmonella is a mesophilic bacterium that share common characteristics with Enterobacteriaceae. Two species are described: Salmonella enterica and Salmonella bongori. Beside the fact that the infection in host cells requires type III secretion-systems, little is known, at present, about virulence mechanisms. Among the cultural detection methods, the use of semi-solid media seems more efficient than the others for Salmonella recovery. The techniques based on genetic amplification may be useful in order to further characterize the isolated strains. Salmonella can be isolated from the intestine of numerous animal species and its survival in the surroundings may be quite long. Several serotypes may cause clinical salmonellosis while others may be responsible for animal species of a carrier state. In this abstract, the influence of swine production system will be developed. The sustainable and ongoing surveillance are justified by the fact that Salmonella leads to numerous foodborne cases and outbreaks and is responsible of important economic and social costs. This surveillance aims to improve the sanitary quality of food from "farm to fork". The preventive methods available for the pre-harvest production step and for the slaughterhouse will be also evoked.