Detection of Trichinella Larvae in Meat: Comparison of ISO 18743:2015 with Regulation (EU) 2015/1375

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Detection of Trichinella Larvae in Meat: Comparison of ISO 18743:2015 with Regulation (EU) 2015/1375 Patrizia Rossi 1

&

Kris de Smet 2 & Edoardo Pozio 1

Received: 17 March 2016 / Accepted: 18 July 2016 # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Abstract Trichinellosis is a foodborne parasitic zoonosis, caused by nematodes within the genus Trichinella. Pigs and wild animals are known sources of Trichinella infections for humans. The Commission Regulation 2075/2005 of the European Union (EU) established that all Trichinella spp. susceptible animals, which are suitable for human consumption, must be tested for these parasites using approved methodologies. Recently, the ISO 18743:2015 Standard on the detection of Trichinella larvae in animals was published. The purpose of this paper was to compare the method described in the ISO Standard with the reference method established in the Commission Regulation of the EU. The comparison was made by setting each clause of the standard versus the corresponding step of the Regulation. The artificial digestion of pooled muscle samples was recognized by both documents as the main reference method and the procedures described were very similar. The ISO Standard provides the basic principles and properties of the essential steps of the method and highlights the Critical Control Points (CCPs) of the procedure, which can affect the performance of the method, providing detailed instructions aimed at inexperienced analysts. The respective roles of the Standard and of the Regulation are also clarified. International standards are developed to provide agreed upon specifications relating to particular matters, while legislation sets mandatory requirements established by public authorities. Thus, European laboratories officially appointed

* Patrizia Rossi [email protected]

1

European Union Reference Laboratory for Parasites, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

2

Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, DDG2. G4 - Food Hygiene, European Commission, Brussels, Belgium

for the detection of Trichinella in meat are required to apply the methods described in the Regulation, but may also rely on the ISO Standard for detailed steps and CCPs. Keywords Trichinella spp. . Artificial digestion method . ISO Standard . EU Regulation

Introduction Nematodes belonging to the genus Trichinella are the causative agents of human trichinellosis, a disease of worldwide public health importance with an incidence ranging from 3000 to 10,000 clinical cases annually and a 0.2 % mortality (Murrell and Pozio 2011; Devleesschauwer et al. 2015). Trichinella spp. circulate among wildlife, i.e., carnivore and omnivore mammals, birds, and reptiles (Pozio and Zarlenga 2013). Out of 12 recognized taxa within this genus, T. spiralis is known to be the species with the highest infectivity to swine, whereas T. britovi, T. pseudospiralis, T. papuae are moderately infective. In contrast, T. nelsoni and T. zimbabwensis appear to have a limited capacity to infect swine, whereas T. nativa, T. murrelli,