Surveillance of dairy herds for emerging pathogens - Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Enterobacter

• Project start date: 1 January 2005
• Project status: Completed
• Project type: Food safety
• Discipline: Microbiology and food hygiene
• Author/s: Mr Jim Buckley, Cork County Council
• Collaborator/s: Single supplier

Research objective

The objective of this project was to conduct a comprehensive surveillance and monitoring programme of milk production holdings—specifically bovine, ovine, and caprine farms—that supply milk for farmhouse cheese production. The aim was to establish baseline data on the prevalence and characteristics of key pathogens that pose food safety risks in unpasteurised dairy products.

The pathogens of interest included Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Enterobacteriaceae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis. By monitoring these pathogens across various seasonal cycles, the project sought to generate crucial information for risk assessment and epidemiological investigations. This data is intended to enhance understanding of the potential food safety risks associated with unpasteurised dairy products, thereby informing and improving risk management strategies and safety protocols in the production of farmhouse cheese. The project was funded collaboratively by safefood and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.

Outputs

Research report

• Title: Unpublished report
• Date: 26 November 2008

Other outputs

Peer reviewed articles

Reen, J., Boyd, E.F., Porwillik, S., Murphy, B.P., Gilroy, D., Fanning, S. and McClelland, M. (2005). “Genomic comparisons of Salmonella Enterica Serovar Dublin, Agona and Typhimurium strains recently isolated from milk filters and bovine samples from Ireland, using a Salmonella microarray”. Applied and Environmental Microbiology. 71: (3) 1616-1625.

Brenda P. Murphy, Mary Murphy, James F. Buckley, Deirdre Gilroy, Michael T. Rowe, David McCleery, and Séamus Fanning. (2005). “In-line milk filter analysis: Escherichia Coli O157 surveillance of milk production holdings”. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health 208: 407-413.

Brenda P. Murphy, Rebecca O’Mahony, James F. Buckley, Priscilla Shine, E. Fidelma Boyd, Deirdre Gilroy, and Séamus Fanning (2007). “Investigation of a large collection of non-typhoidal Salmonella of various serotypes cultured between 1953 and 2004 for the presence class 1 integron gene cassette”. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 266: 170-176.

Brenda P. Murphy, James F. Buckley, Elizabeth M. O’Connor, Deirdre Gilroy, and Séamus Fanning (2008). “Comparison of Salmonella species recovered from Irish liquid milk production holdings with temporal clinical veterinary isolates”. International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, 211: 283-291.

Brenda P. Murphy, Emer O’Mahony, James F. Buckley, Stephen O’Brien and Séamus Fanning (2009). “Characterisation of Staphylococcus Aureus isolated from dairy animals in Ireland”. Zoonoses and Public Health 2010 Jun; 57(4):249-57.

Brenda P. Murphy, Emer O’Mahony, James F. Buckley and Séamus Fanning. (2006). “Prevalence of emerging pathogens in Irish dairy herds”. In Book of abstracts of: safefood: All-Island Infectious Intestinal Disease Conference, sharing strategies for control and prevention. 18th and 19th January, Europa Hotel, Belfast, NI, p. 12