%0 Journal Article
%T Costs of two alternative Salmonella control policies in Finnish broiler production
%A Susanna Kangas
%A Tapani Lyytik£¿inen
%A Jukka Peltola
%A Jukka Ranta
%A Riitta Maijala
%J Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica
%D 2007
%I BioMed Central
%R 10.1186/1751-0147-49-35
%X The comparison included the Salmonella control costs in primary and secondary production and the direct and indirect losses due to Salmonella infections in humans in 2000.The total annual costs of the FSCP were calculated to be 990 400 EUR (0.02 ?/kg broiler meat). The average control costs in the broiler production chain were seven times higher with the FSCP than with the Zoonosis Directive alone. However, the public health costs were 33 times higher with the Zoonosis Directive alone. The value of one prevented loss of life per year exceeded the annual control costs of the FSCP.Due to significant savings in public health costs compared to costs of FSCP, the FSCP was found to be economically feasible.Salmonellosis is one of the most commonly reported zoonotic diseases in humans in Europe [1]. In 2000, a total of 105 542 cases were reported in the EU Member States and Norway [2]. However, underreporting of intestinal infections may lead to an underestimation of the true number of cases [[3-5] and [6]]. Human Salmonella infections are compulsory notifiable in Finland. In 2000, a total of 2624 human Salmonella cases were reported in Finland. The incidence was thus 51/100 000 inhabitants. Of these cases, about 80% were of foreign origin [7].To prevent foodborne salmonellosis, various control strategies have been designed in different countries. In Finland, Salmonella in animals and feedstuffs has been controlled by legislation for decades. In 1990¨C1994, the annual prevalence in commercial broiler flocks was 0.5¨C2.9% [8]. In 1995, when Finland became a member of the European Union, the Finnish Salmonella Control Programme (FSCP) [9] was established based on the low Salmonella prevalence in domestic livestock production. The FSCP was accepted by the European Commission (EC) (European Commission Decision (94/968/EC) approving the operational programme for the control of Salmonella in certain living animals and animal products presented by Finland) [10], and it forms the ba
%U http://www.actavetscand.com/content/49/1/35