Zoonotic Pathogens

Reduction of Sporulating and Non-sporulating Pathogens during Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock Manure in Biogas Plants

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Abstract

In the current context of developing renewable energies and recovering organic waste, on-farm anaerobic digestion (AD) represents a major challenge for the agricultural sector (energy and organic recovery of livestock manure and agricultural substrates). In France, most of biogas plants fed with manure operate at mesophilic conditions converting organic matter to biogas and by-product degradation, i.e. digestate. This digestate is usually spread as fertilizer on land after transformation or storage. Farm animals like pig, bovine and poultry are known to be reservoirs of various pathogenic microorganisms responsible of animal or human infections (Denis et al., 2011; Boscher et al., 2012, Souillard et al., 2014 and 2015, Moono et al., 2016; Gosling et al., 2018; Thépault et al., 2018). Because these pathogens can survive in manure, their fate during mesophilic AD appears to be a matter of public health concern. In this study, we investigated the effect of mesophilic AD on the level of sporulating pathogens (Clostridioides difficile and Clostridium botulinum) and non-sporulating pathogens (Salmonella spp, Listeria monocytogenes and Campylobacter spp.).

How to Cite:

Boscher, A., Pourcher, A., Nagard, B., Druilhe, C., Le Maréchal, C., Repérant, E., Martin, L., Denis, M., Rouxel, S. & Poezevara, T., (2019) “Reduction of Sporulating and Non-sporulating Pathogens during Anaerobic Digestion of Livestock Manure in Biogas Plants”, SafePork 13(1), 103–104. doi: https://doi.org//safepork.11204