Hygiene and Quality of Poultry and Pig Products (HQPAP) Unit of the Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory

The Hygiene and Quality of Poultry and Pork Products (HQPAP) unit has around 30 staff members who carry out research, reference, surveillance and expert appraisal tasks in the field of hygiene and quality of poultry and pork products.

Reference activities

The unit holds four National Reference Laboratory mandates on:

• salmonella;
• avian salmonellosis;
• campylobacter;
• avian botulism.

Surveillance activities

The unit contributes to the monitoring of zoonotic bacteria, and in doing so builds up and maintains the Agency's biological assets.  These assets are made up of strains of Salmonella (more than 20,000), Campylobacter (more than 5,000), Listeria, Yersinia and C. botulinum. These are obtained from mandatory controls, surveillance and control plans, epidemiological investigations and research projects. The unit also keeps samples (broths, DNA) from diagnostic tests carried out in cases of suspected animal botulism.

Information on these strains and samples is stored in databases that can be used for investigative purposes in the event of health alerts on farms. The unit recommends surveillance and control plans to the Directorate General for Food. In this regard, it may be required to carry out analyses or collect strains.

In addition, the unit's scientists participate in working groups of the Surveillance platform for food-chain safety (SCA), and contribute to articles of the Epidemiological surveillance platform for animal health (ESA).

The unit also conducts expert appraisal work as part of ANSES's response to formal requests and, at the European level, for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

Lastly, the HQPAP Unit monitors standards relating to methods of detection, quantification and characterisation of bacteria of interest.

Research activities

The unit's research focuses on the control of zoonotic bacterial agents in the poultry, swine and now also cattle sectors, through a multidisciplinary – and increasingly inter-sectoral – approach. The main bacteria studied are Salmonella, Campylobacter, Listeria, Yersinia, Clostridium botulinum and Clostridioides difficile.

Research is based on the "One Health" concept, which aims to address study topics by taking into account the links between human health, animal health and environmental management. The projects extend "from farm to fork", "from field to sequencing lab" and are at the interface between animals, consumers and their environment. Because of their frequently multidisciplinary and inter-sectoral nature, the projects are often carried out in conjunction with the laboratory's other experimental units and departments (SPPAE, SELEAC, Episabe, PBER, etc.).

Three research themes are implemented: prevalence, risk factors and molecular epidemiology; the host-pathogen relationship; and control measures.

Main ongoing projects for the HQPAP Unit

Rezolve (2022-2025)

Reducing zoonotic bacteria in poultry farming using essential oils.

Funding: INNO R&D Collaborative subsidy

Partners: BIOArmor, ANSES

BTer (2023-2027)

Better management of Salmonella and Campylobacter contamination in livestock farming through a territorial and multi-stakeholder approach to biosecurity (BTer).

Funding: CASDAR

Partners: ITAVI, ANSES, IDELE

ClostAbat (2022-2026)

Characterization of the Clostridium perfringens and Clostridium difficile hazards in the bovine, pig and poultry sectors in slaughterhouses.

Funding: French Research Agency (ANR)

Partners: ANSES LSAL, SBCL unit; ANSES PPN , EpiSaBe unit; Institut Pasteur, Paris; AgroSup Dijon, University of Burgundy UMR PAM; IDELE; IFIP

One Health approach to investigate Botulinum neurotoxin-producing bacteria contamination levels from farm to fork (2025-2027)

Funding: EFSA (tailor-made activity)

Partners: ISS, Sciensano, FLI, BfR, BIOR, AESAN, WR, NMVRVI, VMVT, PIWet, FoodHub, ISUV

In the Waste (2023-2026)

Study and optimisation of community composting of kitchen and table waste to ensure compost quality and safety.

Funding: ADEME

Partners: INRAE, CNRS, City of Rennes, EHESP

DSP_SHINY-VISA call for expressions of interest  (2024-2025)

Validation of the Shiny application developed to predict Salmonella virulence levels.

Funding: ANSES DSP

Partners: EpiSaBe unit (ANSES Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort), SEL unit (ANSES SAL-Maisons-Alfort), TOX unit (ANSES Fougères), PTF-Maldi (ANSES LHN), DER (ANSES Maisons-Alfort), NRC for Escherichia coli, Shigella and Salmonella (NRC-ESS, Institut Pasteur, Paris)

DSP_CampySeq call for expressions of interest (2024-2024)

Impact of the Campylobacter whole genome sequence production and analysis process on the genotyping of strains and their grouping within clusters for the investigation of clustered cases of human campylobacteriosis.

Funding: ANSES DSP

Partners: MBA unit (ANSES Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort), NRC for Campylobacter and Helicobacter (Bordeaux)

DSP_ASTEROIDE call for expressions of interest (2024-2025)

Assessment of the Shotgun metagenomics approach for studying microbiomes and detecting genes of interest.

Funding: ANSES call for expressions of interest

Coordinator: Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory (UHQPAP) 

Partner teams: Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory (MBA unit, Sequencing platform) , Maisons-Alfort Animal Health Laboratory (UZB), Plant Health Laboratory (Nematology and Mycology units), ANSES training department, Nancy Laboratory for Hydrology (Water Microbiology unit – UME)

DSP_CASABLAST call for expressions of interest (2024-2025)

Campylobacter, Salmonella and Blastocystis in broilers in France: associations between these micro-organisms and impact on the diversity of the animals' gut microbiota.

Funding: ANSES call for expressions of interest

Partners: Lille Centre for Infection and Immunity (CIIL), Inserm U1019, Ecology and Physiopathology of Intestinal Protozoa team, University of Lille

DSP_CLOST'ENVIR call for expressions of interest (2024-2025)

Collection and sequencing of Clostridioides difficile and Clostridium perfringens strains from environmental reservoirs to use as input for source attribution models.

Funding: ANSES call for expressions of interest

Partners: SBCL unit, UERALIM unit, Ploufragan GVB unit-Sequencing platform

Projects completed 

SANIMETHA (2020-2024)

Reducing health risks in anaerobic digestion

Funding: ADEME

Partners: INRAE, UBS 

SANAMETHA (2020-2025)

Reducing health risks in the agricultural anaerobic digestion sector: study of the impact of thermal and electrochemical treatments on spore-forming (Clostridium) and non-spore-forming (enterococci) bacteria

Funding: ANSES, Brittany Regional Council

Partner: UBS

SHOTBOT (2023)

Evaluation of Shotgun metagenomics as a new strategy to subtype and track C. botulinum during animal botulism outbreaks.

Funding: ANSES flash call for expressions of interest

Partners: GVB unit, IdentyPath Platform, ISS  and Metabiot contracted unit

Botu Faune Sauvage  call for expressions of interest (2022-2024)

One Health approach to assessing botulism risk in wild birds.

Funding: ANSES call for expressions of interest

Partners: 
ANSES teams

• Risk Assessment Department, unit for the Assessment of risks related to animal health, nutrition and welfare (UERSABA)
• Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory (GVB unit-Sequencing platform)
• Ploufragan-Plouzané-Niort Laboratory (Epidemiology, health and welfare unit – EpiSaBe)
• Nancy Laboratory for Rabies and Wildlife (Surveillance and eco-epidemiology of wildlife unit – SEEpiAS)
• Laboratory for Food Safety (IdentyPath platform)
• Department of Communication and Institutional Relations (DICORIS)

External teams (not funded as part of the project)

• French Biodiversity Agency
• Institut Pasteur, NRC for anaerobic bacteria and botulism

Evanhoty (2021-2024)

Assessment of the involvement of the swine and cattle sectors in human yersiniosis cases in France and the evolution of Yersinia enterocolitica using discriminating molecular techniques.

Funding: FranceAgriMer

Partners: NRC for plague and other yersinioses, Institut Pasteur, Paris; French Pork and Pig Institute (IFIP), Le Rheu; French Livestock Institute (IDELE), Villers-Bocage

RIMICIA (2021-2023)

Roadmap for the integration of gastro-intestinal (GI) tract microbiomes (human and domestic animal) in risk assessments under EFSA's remit.

Funding: EFSA

Partners: Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Spain

Newprob's (2020-2023)

Bacteroides fragilis: a new-generation probiotic to combat Salmonella infections.

Funding: AgriFood Transition Carnot Institute

Partners: NuMeCan Institute INSERM UMR U1241, Rennes; CNRS UMR 6226, ISCR/COrint, Rennes; Innozh

CALISPO (Flash call for expressions of interest) (2023-2024)

The added value of mass spectrometry to genome analysis and phenotypic analysis for the typing and identification of phenotypic characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes isolated from pigs.

Funding: ANSES DSP

Partners: AB2R unit, ANSES Fougères; SEL unit, ANSES Maisons-Alfort; PTF-Maldi, ANSES Nancy; PTF-Sequencing, ANSES Ploufragan

BOTUSOL (2019-2023)

Animal botulism and manure spreading: fate of Clostridium botulinum in soil.

Funding: FranceAgriMer

Partners: INNOVAL; EpiSaBe; Agroecology joint research unit

PIGAL (2019-2023)

Alternative pig farming: opportunities and risks associated with animal health, welfare and biosecurity.

Funding: FranceAgriMer, Cooperl, Sica-Gouessant, Avril Nutrition, Herta, Zoetis and Inaporc

Partners: Alfort National Veterinary School and funding bodies