Salmonella action plan at farms

All Danish Crown’s pig and sow suppliers are subject to a salmonella action plan. The thrust of the plan is to minimise the occurrence of salmonella among herds, while at the same time focusing on top notch hygiene at the abattoirs. Over the years, this has reduced the incidence of salmonella in fresh meat from Denmark to a very low level that only a handful of countries can match.

To maintain this positive trend, we have a goal of reducing the natural occurrence of salmonella in herds to a minimum. To achieve this, routine meat juice samples are taken that show the salmonella status of the herd and so provide the individual herdowner with the basis for undertaking any necessary measures to minimise the problem.

How salmonella is handled in the abattoirs

Two types of salmonella samples are taken in the abattoirs.

Meat juice samples

Meat juice samples are routinely taken from pigs from all herds which annually supply 200 or more pigs. These tests are used to determine each herd’s salmonella level.

If a herd is at level 1, everything is in order. If a herd is at level 2, there is too much salmonella pressure in the herd, and the cooperative member must seek advice to address the problems.

If a herd is at level 3, pigs from the herd will be subject to special slaughtering until the herd’s salmonella level returns to an acceptable level. The cooperative member will also be required to implement a plan to eliminate the salmonella problems.

Special slaughtering means that pigs from level 3 herds are collected and slaughtered separately at the end of the abattoir working day. These livestock are slaughtered with special care, to ensure that the fresh meat is not infected with salmonella bacteria as far as possible.

Fresh meat samples

Salmonella tests are performed on selected carcases in the abattoirs each day to continuously monitor the incidence of salmonella in fresh meat. These tests show whether each abattoir is adhering to the steady trend towards a lower incidence of salmonella in fresh meat. If the samples show a rising incidence, the slaughter process is analysed and adjusted to ensure the incidence of salmonella in fresh meat is as low as possible.

The incidence of salmonella in fresh meat from Danish Crown is about 1 per cent – a level that only a few countries in the world can match

Business organisation

Executive management

Jais Valeur

Group CEO

Thomas Ahle

Group CFO

Tim Ørting Jørgensen

Group EVP

Staff functions

Andreas Friis

Senior Vice President, Group HR

Astrid Gade Nielsen

Vice President Corporate Communication and Public Affairs

Management in subsidiaries

Boguslaw Miszczuk

CEO/EVP, Sokolow

Finn Klostermann

CEO/EVP, Danish Crown Beef

Jan Roelsgaard

CEO/EVP, DAT-Schaub

Morten Holm

CEO/EVP, ESS-FOOD

Søren F. Eriksen

EVP, Danish Crown Operations

Viktor Tornberg

CEO/EVP, KLS Ugglarps