Study Approach: A total of 4,000 retail pork products were examined during January – March, 2007, from 4 locations in the Midwestern and Southwestern United States, including Green Bay, WI, Dallas, TX, San Antonio, TX and Phoenix, AZ. Four representative pork products were collected during this study, including enhanced pork chops, enhanced boneless pork roasts, un-enhanced (natural) pork chops and un-enhanced (natural) boneless pork roasts. Pork products were collected in a similar manner at each location for the first two-thirds of the sampling period. For the final, one-third of the collection period only enhanced products primarily from the Phoenix, AZ location were sampled based on the inability to recover Salmonella spp. from un-enhanced products, and further, on the limited number of positive samples recovered in enhanced products at the other 3 locations. Retail samples were first screened for the presence of Salmonella spp. in sets of 5 per product type. If the sample set screened positive, further testing was performed on the individual samples associated with the set. In the event that an individual sample was determined to be positive for Salmonella spp., it was assessed for the estimated level of Salmonella spp. present per gram of product.
Contribute to Pork Research
Discover how you can help improve the pork industry by checking out research RFPs or sharing your own ideas. If you have a research idea, we want to know! Here’s your chance to make a difference.