Salmonella on bob veal and formula-fed veal carcasses
What it found
Bob veal calves had much more Salmonella on their hides and carcasses than formula-fed veal, in samples taken at five US veal plants.
Some formula-fed veal carried Salmonella types linked to human illness and resistant to antibiotics.
What they found
Animal and lab studies
More Salmonella on bob veal
Salmonella was found on 84.2% of bob veal hides compared with 15.6% of formula-fed veal hides. On carcasses after hide removal, 62.8% of bob veal and 10.1% of formula-fed veal were positive. On final carcasses, 12.0% of bob veal and 0.4% of formula-fed veal were positive.
Amounts on hides
The amount of Salmonella on bob veal hides at two plants was higher than on formula-fed veal hides. On carcasses, the amounts were very low.
Types of Salmonella
Seventeen different Salmonella types were found among 710 isolates. The most common types in bob veal were London, Cerro, and Muenster. In formula-fed veal, Montevideo was most common.
Antibiotic resistance
A larger share of Salmonella from formula-fed veal (26.8%) grew in the presence of one or more antibiotics than from bob veal (9.6%). Some formula-fed veal carried Salmonella types Heidelberg and a monophasic variant of Typhimurium, which are linked to human illness.
Plant differences
Salmonella was found at four of the five plants. Two plants that handled bob veal had much higher contamination than plants that only handled formula-fed veal. At one plant that handled both types, all hides of both types were positive, possibly from cross-contamination in holding pens.
What the authors conclude
- They say bob veal calves had greater amounts and more frequent Salmonella on hides and carcasses than formula-fed veal.
- They note that the amounts of Salmonella on hides and the challenges of removing hides from smaller bob veal carcasses likely combine to cause the higher contamination seen by regulators.
- They advise that further efforts are needed from both bob and formula-fed veal processors to address Salmonella.
How it was done
Veal and beef have been linked to Salmonella outbreaks, and recent checks found more Salmonella in bob veal than in formula-fed veal. The authors wanted to see where in processing the contamination occurs and what types of Salmonella are present.
They collected samples from calf hides, carcasses after hide removal, and final chilled carcasses at five veal processors that handled bob veal, formula-fed veal, or both. Three plants were visited twice, about 12 months apart. They measured how much Salmonella was present and identified the types and their antibiotic resistance.
What it can’t tell you
- This study looked at bacteria on hides and carcasses at processing plants, not at whether people got sick from eating the veal.
- It cannot show how often contaminated veal reaches shoppers or causes illness.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- 2 Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Virginia; 4 IEH Laboratories and Consulting Group, USA
The paper
- Title
- Prevalence and Characterization of Salmonella Present during Veal Harvest
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Animals and lab studies
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Cite
- Bosilevac JM, Zhilyaev S, Wang R, Luedtke BE, Wheeler TL, Koohmaraie M (2019). Prevalence and Characterization of Salmonella Present during Veal Harvest. Journal of food protection. doi:10.4315/0362-028X.JFP-18-478Free full textPubMed 30986365DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error