165719 20260113234335.0 doi 10.3390/foods14244350 sideral 147235 ART-2025-147235 eng Berdejo, Daniel Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-5053-8309 Comparative Study of Raw Ham and Other Pork Tissues for the Detection of Toxoplasma gondii 2025 Toxoplasma gondii has long been a significant food safety concern, as standardized methods for detecting and controlling it are still lacking in the slaughterhouse and the broader meat industry. We evaluated the presence of T. gondii in raw ham and in target tissues (heart and tongue) of seropositive pigs with the aim of selecting a representative risk evaluation tissue to test raw pork destined for the elaboration of cured meat products. To increase the sensitivity of T. gondii detection, we additionally employed bioassay in mice and qPCR analysis. T. gondii was detected in 26 raw hams and in 26 samples of target tissues of the 38 seropositive pigs analyzed (68.4%). Statistical analysis demonstrated a strong agreement between the results obtained from the ham and target tissue samples (κ = 0.790). Moreover, the antibody titers obtained in mice inoculated with target tissue were higher (up to 1:320) compared with those inoculated with raw ham. These findings suggest that tissues such as tongue and heart, which have less commercial value than raw hams, can serve as primary selection tissues for the detection of T. gondii. Consequently, they could serve as a valuable and effective raw material control tool in the dry-cured ham industry. Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/AESAN PI052369 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/INNPACTO-IPT-2012-0189-060000 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Herrero, Laura (orcid)0000-0002-6971-4293 Gracia, María Jesús (orcid)0000-0003-1417-272X de Blas, Ignacio Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-1204-4356 Lázaro, Regina Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-6460-1388 Bayarri, Susana Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-1668-4940 2008 640 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Produc.Animal Cienc.Ali. Área Nutrición Bromatología 1009 773 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Patología Animal Área Sanidad Animal 14, 24 (2025), 4350 [9 pp.] Foods Foods 2304-8158 682586 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/165719/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 2476702 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/165719/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:165719 articulos driver 2026-01-13-22:06:50 ARTICLE