Tracing zoonotic pathogens in dairy production

Dairy farming has become a highly productive system producing ample amounts of high-quality milk and meat from fewer cows on less land on fewer, but larger, farms. Despite this consolidation and modernization, zoonotic pathogenic bacteria and protozoans remain problems on the modern dairy farm. Although pasteurization has greatly reduced illness due to contaminated dairy products, post-processing contamination and an apparent increase in the consumption of raw milk, raw milk products and meat from dairy cows continue to result in outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness. Methods used for pathogen detection, identification, subtyping and characterization methods have shown the relationships between pathogens from cow feces and the surrounding environment and those contaminating milk and meat; however, control of these pathogens on the farm remains difficult.