Causes, Patterns, and Economic Implications of Carcass Condemnation of Cattle Slaughtered at Oshana Region, North of Namibia Based on Post-Mortem Inspection

Background: Meat inspection is one of the essential tools for ensuring good quality and safe meat. The objective of this study was to evaluate carcass condemnation of cattle slaughtered in Oshana region, North of Namibia. Methods: In this 4-year retrospective study, causes, patterns, and economic implications of carcass condemnation of cattle slaughtered in Oshana region, North of Namibia were evaluated based on post-mortem inspection procedure. The SPSS software version 25 was used for statistical analysis. Results: Overall, 0.37% (120 out of 32 648) beef carcasses were condemned during the period of this study. The major causes of condemnation of carcasses were bruising (60 out of 120; 50%), followed by pus contamination. The condemnation rate in female cattle (65%) was significantly (p<0.05) higher than male cattle (35%). Overall, a significantly greater number (p<0.05) of carcasses were condemned in summer (74.2%) than in winter (25.8%). Conclusion: This study identified bruising, pus contamination, and cachexia as the major causes of bovine carcass condemnation in North of Namibia and showed that carcass condemnation rate varied with the year, season, and age.

Risk factors for poor health and performance in European broiler production systems.

Background Conventional broilers are currently one of the most efficient protein converters. Although decades of progress in genetic selection and feed formulation have lead to high standards of efficient broiler production, still a lot of variability is found between farms and between successive flocks. The aim of this study was to investigate risk- and/or protective factors for poor health and performance in conventional broiler-farms in Europe by developing eight multivariable linear mixed models. Three different models were used to investigate mortality (overall, first week, after first week), three models for performance variables (growth, feed conversion, European production index) and two models were related to slaughterhouse data (i.e. dead on arrival and condemnation rate). Results Several factors related to management and housing were significantly associated with health and performance of broilers. The following factors were associated with increased mortality: floor quality, neonatal septicemia, ventilation type and other professional activities of the farmer. The factors associated with performance were chick sex, coccidiosis infections, necrotic enteritis, dysbacteriosis, light intensity adaptations, ventilation type, comparing daily flock results with previous flock results by farmer, daily check of feed and water system and type of feed. For dead on arrival three risk factors were identified i.e. daily growth, type of light adaptation and type of drinkers system. For condemnation rate seven risk factors were found, i.e. type of drinking system, daily growth, feed withdrawal time, type of ventilation, house size, septicemia after seven days and type of feed. Conclusions These results imply that a multifactorial approach is required with adaptations involving both improvements in management, housing, health programs and an increasing level of professionalism of the farmer in order to improve broiler performance and health.

Economic losses associated with Wooden Breast and White Striping in broilers

Currently, two defects in poultry breasts termed Wooden Breast (WB) and White Striping (WS) have been reported in slaughterhouses. These defects may be associated with the accelerated growth of the birds, management, density in the aviary, and both weight and age at slaughter. Although the health of the affected birds is not impaired, these myopathies cause carcass condemnation and economic losses to slaughterhouses, since the breasts of these chickens, considered to be prime cuts in the poultry industry, have to be discarded. This paper reports on the economic losses and factors associated with carcass condemnation caused by white striping (WS) and wooden breast (WB) in broilers from a federally inspected slaughterhouse. Twelve flocks, totaling 207,000 slaughtered broilers, were assessed as to weight and age at slaughter, and stocking density and carcass condemnations due to these two myopathies were also evaluated. Economic losses were estimated by the price of poultry breast at the firm level, around U$ 19,12 per kilo, amounting to daily losses of up to U$ 70,632.00, given that approximately 0.8% of the chicken breasts were condemned. Heavier broilers had a larger condemnation rate due to WS and WB, and so did those reared at a smaller density, due probably to their better access to water and feed, which contributed to weight gain and consequent condemnation, resulting in losses that could affect the entire poultry sector.

Assessment of Several Algorithms for Outbreak Detection using Bovine Meat Inspection Data for Syndromic Surveillance: A Pilot Study on Whole Carcass Condemnation Rate

Slaughterhouses are a potential source of data which is under-used for cattle health monitoring. The objective of this work was to assess the performance of several algorithms for outbreak detection based on weekly proportions of whole carcass condemnation. Data from 177,098 cattle slaughtered in one French slaughterhouse from 2005 to 2009 were used. The Shewart p chart, one-sided confidence interval of a negative binomial regression model, and EWMA and CUSUM on residuals of a negative binomial model were investigated. The highest sensitivity was obtained using negative binomial regression and the highest specificity using CUSUM or EWMA.

Influence of tail biting on weight gain, lesions and condemnations at slaughter of finishing pigs

The present study assessed the association of tail-biting lesions in finishing pigs with weight gain, occurrence of locomotion or respiratory disorders and abscesses during finishing period, and carcass condemnation at slaughter. The study was carried out on 4 different farms. For each animal with a tail biting lesion, two control pigs were selected. The total number of animals in the study was 312, with 104 of them being tail-bitten. Tail lesions were classified according to the degree of severity into four scores: score 0 -normal tail withou lesion; score 1-3 - increasing lesion severity, and score 4 - healed lesions. Overall, the occurrence of severe tail lesions (score 3) varied from 55 to 73% of tail-bitten pigs among farms. On all farms, healing of tail lesions was observed in 95% to 100% of the animals at the evaluation performed within 41-43 days after the commencement of the study. In two out of the four evaluated farms, pigs with score of 3 showed lower weight gain (P<0.05) compared with score 0 pigs. Before slaughter, the occurrence of locomotion problems and nodules/abscesses was associated (P<0.05) with the presence of tail-biting lesions. At slaughter, tail-biting lesions were associated (P<0.05) with the presence of abscesses, lung lesions (pleuritis and embolic pneumonia) or arthritis in carcasses. Carcass condemnation was associated with the presence of tail-biting lesions (P<0.05). Overall, carcass condemnation rate was 21.4%, of which animals with tail-biting lesions accounted for 66.7% of condemnations. Among the animals diagnosed with cannibalism at farm level, only two had not healed their lesions at slaughter. The fact that there were a lot of carcass condemnations, despite the fact that tail-bitten animals had no more active lesions, suggests that different situations may be observed between the field and slaughter, reinforcing the need to analyze pigs both at farm and slaughter to allow proper assessment of losses related to tail biting. Collectively, the observations of the present study show that complications associated with tail-biting found in slaughterhouses are probably underestimating field prevalence.

Feasibility of screening broiler chicken flocks for risk markers as an aid for meat inspection

SUMMARYThe feasibility of using risk markers to screen broiler chicken flocks and anticipate their risk of condemnation at meat inspection was examined in 404 randomly selected flocks in 15 French slaughterhouses in 2005. Condemnation rate and information about rearing conditions, health history, catching and loading, transport and slaughtering were collected. The Poisson regression model of the condemnation rate consisted of six simple and biologically relevant predictors: production type, frequency of farmer's visits during the starting period, health disorders during rearing, on-farm mortality, mortality during transport, and slaughter-line speed. Although accurate prediction of the condemnation rate for a given flock was not feasible, flocks with low or high risk of condemnation could be distinguished. These findings could be useful at various stages of chicken production, to monitor and improve farm husbandry practices, minimize the impact of transport conditions, and optimize meat inspection procedures.