[Current zoonoses from the food hygiene point of view (author's transl)].

Of the numerous zoonoses part of which are reportable, according to the Federal Communicable Diseases Act, the food hygienist attributes topicality at present to salmonellosis, brucellosis, toxoplasmosis, taeniasis (T. saginata), trichinellosis, and sarcosporidiosis. In salmonellosis, combating is directed to breeding and keeping of Salmonella-free flocks, poultry offering favourable conditions for this purpose. Moreover, one tries to decontaminate feeds through certain pelleting machines with the aid of friction heat or by admixing propionic acid. In brucellosis, the possibility of infection by tourism, but also that through ingestion of imported dairy products (like soft cheese) play a certain role. Instruction of tourists and advising foreign labour from endemic areas are essential contributions to combating. Another important infection source of toxoplasmosis is infected raw pig meat. As the agent does not survive freezing temperatures under certain conditions, the decontamination procedure is particularly suitable. In pregnancy advising, the role of raw pig meat for development of congenital toxoplasmosis should be clearly explained. In trichinellosis, apart from the traditional examination by the trichinoscope, the modified digestion procedure using pepsin as a digestive fluid was successful. Moreover, it is suitable for detecting weakly infected swine. The importance of systematic examinations of all domestic and wild pigs became evident only recently in 1977, when in Bavaria an epidemic of trichinellosis occurred following the ingestion of undetected Trichinella containing wild pig meat. According to most recent knowledge on the cycle of development of sarcosporidia, the studies showed that the species Sarc. bovihominis and suihominis were pathogens for human beings. Quite apart from necessary supplementary examinations, the freezing procedure would here too, warrant an effective protection for the raw meat consuming population.