1. Low prevalence of viable Toxoplasma gondii in fresh, unfrozen, American pasture-raised pork and lamb from retail meat stores in the United States
- Author
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Brandon Adams, Dolores E. Hill, Chunlei Su, Jeffrey L. Jones, Shiv K. Verma, Oliver C.H. Kwok, Surabhi Rani, Fernando H.A. Murata, Yuqing Ying, Miao Guo, Camila K. Cerqueira-Cézar, Abani K. Pradhan, Ryan E. Wiegand, V. M. Fournet, Jitender P. Dubey, Jorrell Fredericks, and Diane S. Hawkins-Cooper
- Subjects
Veterinary medicine ,geography ,geography.geographical_feature_category ,biology ,010401 analytical chemistry ,food and beverages ,Toxoplasma gondii ,04 agricultural and veterinary sciences ,biology.organism_classification ,040401 food science ,01 natural sciences ,Pasture ,0104 chemical sciences ,0404 agricultural biotechnology ,parasitic diseases ,Food Science ,Biotechnology - Abstract
In a national survey of fresh, unfrozen, American pasture-raised lamb and pork, the prevalence of viable Toxoplasma gondii was determined in 1500 samples selected by random multistage sampling (750 pork, 750 lamb) obtained from 250 retail meat stores from 10 major geographic areas in the USA. Each sample consisted of a minimum of 500 g of meat purchased from the retail meat case. To detect viable T. gondii, 50 g meat samples of each of 1500 samples were bioassayed in mice. Viable T. gondii was isolated from 2 of 750 lamb samples (unweighted: 0.19%, 0.00–0.46%; weighted: 0.04%, 0.00–0.11%) and 1 of 750 pork samples (unweighted: 0.12%, 0.00–0.37%; weighted: 0.18%, 0.00–0.53%). Overall, the prevalence of viable T. gondii in these retail meats was very low. Nevertheless, consumers, especially pregnant women, should be aware that they can acquire T. gondii infection from ingestion of undercooked meat.
- Published
- 2020
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