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Background: The parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) causes a substantial human disease burden worldwide. Ingesting improperly cooked pork containing T. gondii is considered one of the major sources of human infection in Europe and North America. Consequently, control of T. gondii infections in pigs is warranted. The European Food Safety Authority advised to perform serological monitoring of pigs and to conduct farm audits for the presence of risk factors. Serological monitoring was implemented in several Dutch slaughterhouses, one to six blood samples (a total of 5134 samples) were taken from each delivery of finishing pigs and samples were tested for the presence of anti-T. gondii antibodies. Using these test results, a cross-sectional study was initiated to assess the association between the within-herd T. gondii seroprevalence and the presence of risk factors for T. gondii infections at 69 conventional finishing pig farms in the Netherlands.Results: A multivariable model showed significant (P ≤ 0.05) association with twelve potential risk factors: type of farm, presence of dogs, presence of ruminants, use of boots, use of shower and farm clothing, mode of rodent control, bedding accessibility for rodents, presence of cats, type of drinking water, heating of the feed, use of goat whey and shielding of birds.Conclusions: Serological monitoring of finishing pigs for T. gondii in slaughterhouses can be used to identify the presence of T. gondii risk factors on Dutch conventional finishing pig farms and seems a valuable tool to guide and monitor the control of T. gondii in pork production.

BackgroundThe parasite Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is recognized as one of the major foodborne pathogens with a high human disease burden. To control T. gondii infections in pigs, European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) advises serological testing of pigs and audits of pig farms to identify risk factors for T. gondii infection. In line with this approach, the aim of the current study was to assess the effectiveness and costs of intervention measures implemented to reduce the T. gondii seroprevalence on finishing pig farms in the Netherlands. A crossover clinical trial was conducted at five case farms were their own control and the cross-over moment was the implementation of interventions to reduce risk factors. Each of the case farms had a farm-specific intervention strategy with one principal intervention measure (neutering of cats, professional rodent control or covering food storage).ResultsAll finishing pig farms (n = 5) showed a reduction in T. gondii seroprevalence within one year of implementing the intervention strategy. Cat neutering (n = 3) and feed coverage (n = 1) showed statistically significant reductions in seroprevalence. Rodent control (n = 1) did not show a statistically significant reduction. The estimated reduction in seroprevalence in response to the neutering of cats and feed coverage were 67 and 96 %, respectively.ConclusionsOur work demonstrates that it is possible to reduce the within-farm T. gondii seroprevalence within one year after interventions were implemented to reduce T. gondii risk factors. This information is essential and encouraging for policy makers, food business operators, and farmers to implement in their risk assessment and to apply to food safety control systems.