A Preliminary Study on the Presence of in Lymph Nodes of Sows at Processing Plants in the United States

-contaminated lymph nodes (LN), when included into edible meat products, are a potential source of foodborne disease. In this survey, ventral superficial cervical and mandibular LN were tested for the presence of from two sow processing plants in the midwestern United States. Results indicate that both LN can be contaminated with ; mandibular LN have higher prevalence ( < 0.05) of than cervical LN (16% vs. 0.91%), and the majority (>90%) of isolates are pan-susceptible or resistant to one antimicrobial, while 9.78% of isolates were multi-drug-resistant (MDR-resistant to three or more classes of antimicrobials). Intervention methods to prevent foodborne disease could include elimination of these LN from pork products or inclusion of LN only into products that are destined for cooking. Integrated multi-faceted intervention methods need to be developed to reduce in the food chain.