Barlow A, Roy K, Hawkins K, Ankarah AA, Rosenthal B. A review of testing and assurance methods for
Trichinella surveillance programs.
Food Waterborne Parasitol 2021;
24:e00129. [PMID:
34458599 PMCID:
PMC8379475 DOI:
10.1016/j.fawpar.2021.e00129]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Revised: 07/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
While global cases of trichinellosis have fallen since pork regulation began, the disease remains a danger to pork and animal game consumers as well as a liability to producers. Managing food safety risk and supporting agricultural trade requires cost-effective and sensitive diagnostic methods. Several means exist to inspect pork for parasitic infections. Here, we review literature concerning the sensitivity, specificity, and cost of these methods. We found that artificial digestion coupled with optical microscopy to be the best method for verification of Trichinella larva free pork due to its cost efficiency, high specificity, and reliability. Serological techniques such as ELISA are useful for epidemiological surveillance of swine. While current PCR techniques are quick and useful for diagnosing species-specific infections, they are not cost efficient for large-scale testing. However, as PCR techniques, including Lateral Flow- Recombinase Polymerase Amplification (LF-RPA), improve and continue to reduce cost, such methods may ultimately succeed artificial digestion.
We compared cost, sensitivity, and specificity of available and foreseeable tools.
The magnetic stir bar method remains the gold standard for Trichinella surveillance.
Serological methods miss early infections but offer promise for use in surveillance.
Isothermal methods offer future promise given their speed, accuracy, and ease of use.
Genetic methods are uneconomical but advances have promise to reduce cost.
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