ANALYSIS OF SALMONELLA CONTAMINATION OF PROCESSING ENVIRONMENT IN A FEED MILL

D.M. Lapusneanu, I.M. Pop, Cristina Gabriela Radu-Rusu, Roxana Zaharia, Alina Narcisa Postolache

Abstract
    In order to ensure food safety, it is necessary to consider all aspectso of the food chain, from the primary agricultural production, including compound feed production, to the supply of consumers, as each of these can affect the safety of final products. In the production of compound feeds, each unit operation can contribute to threatening their safety. The paper aims to determine the contamination with Salmonella spp. of the equipment on the technological process of production from a feed mill from Romania. Sampling was done from different points of the production process, depending on the predisposition to a potential contaminant, respectively from mixers, granulators, sieves, mills, bunkers, coolers, as well as from the bunkers of the machines with which the feed is delivered to customers. During 2019 (in March, July, October, and December) 22 samples were taken and analyzed to determine the contamination with Salmonella spp. The results of microbiological analyzes performed in the feed mill under study, showed that all 22 samples were negative. The introduction of an appropriate system for monitoring and analyzing microbiological contaminants in a fee mill can help to control and prevent contamination, with a direct impact on food safety, animal and human health.