Food-Safety Hazards in the Pork Chain in Nagaland, North East India: Implications for Human Health

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health

Anna Sophie Fahrion⁴  Lanu Jamir⁵  Kenivole Richa³  Sonuwara Begum¹  Vilatuo Rutsa²  Simon Ao⁵  Varijaksha P. Padmakumar³  Ram Pratim Deka³ 

[1] NRC National Research Institute on Mithun, Jharnapani, Nagaland 797106, India; E-Mail:;NEPED, Kohima, Nagaland 797001, India; E-Mail:;ILRI International Livestock Research Institute, Nairobi 00100, Kenya; E-Mails:;Veterinary Public Health Institute, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Bern, Bern 3097, Switzerland;Department of Veterinary and Animal Health, Nagaland 797001, India; E-Mails:

关键词: food-borne disease;    pork;    Nagaland;    bacterial counts;    Taenia solium;    antibiotic residues;   

DOI  :  10.3390/ijerph110100403

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Pork occupies an important place in the diet of the population of Nagaland, one of the North East Indian states. We carried out a pilot study along the pork meat production chain, from live animal to end consumer. The goal was to obtain information about the presence of selected food borne hazards in pork in order to assess the risk deriving from these hazards to the health of the local consumers and make recommendations for improving food safety. A secondary objective was to evaluate the utility of risk-based approaches to food safety in an informal food system. We investigated samples from pigs and pork sourced at slaughter in urban and rural environments, and at retail, to assess a selection of food-borne hazards. In addition, consumer exposure was characterized using information about hygiene and practices related to handling and preparing pork. A qualitative hazard characterization, exposure assessment and hazard characterization for three representative hazards or hazard proxies, namely Enterobacteriaceae, T. solium cysticercosis and antibiotic residues, is presented. Several important potential food-borne pathogens are reported for the first time including Listeria spp. and Brucella suis. This descriptive pilot study is the first risk-based assessment of food safety in Nagaland. We also characterise possible interventions to be addressed by policy makers, and supply data to inform future risk assessments.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2013 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.