The prevalence of Yersinia enterocolitica 0:3 in Finnish pigs and pork.

One hundred and forty seven samples of pig faeces collected from 14 herds located in different parts of Finland were examined for Yersinia enterocolitica biotype 4 serotype 0:3. Twenty six (17.7%) animals and 5 herds (35.7%) were positive. The tonsils of 350 animals from 35 herds with high condemnation figures at meat inspection and the tonsils of 131 animals from 13 herds with low condemnation figures collected from 2 abattoirs in southwest Finland were also examined. The prevalence raes of Y.e. in animals were 38.3% and 31.3% and in herds 74.3% and 61.5%, respectively. The prevalence of Y.e. in herds with the high and low partial condemnation percentages did not differ significantly. No isolation of Y.e. was made from 104 samples of pork and minced pork collected from retail markets in Helsinki and from exporting slaughterhouses.