Effect of cardiac arrest on susceptibility to carcass bruising in sheep

The effect of inducing a cardiac arrest at electrical stunning on the susceptibility of the carcass to bruising was evaluated in thiopentone-anaesthetised sheep. Bruising was induced with a percussion pistol and measured in terms of meat appearance and extractable haem pigment. Cardiac arrest caused a prompt and marked reduction in susceptibility to bruising, and it is concluded that stunning techniques which cause simultaneous heart failure could help to reduce the incidence of carcass bruising. Exsanguination of sheep which had a normal cardiac rhythm prevented the induction of bruising once 50% of the total blood loss had occurred.     

Road transport of cattle, swine and poultry in North America and its impact on animal welfare, carcass and meat quality: a review

This paper reviews the effects of road transport on the welfare, carcass and meat quality of cattle, swine and poultry in North America (NA). The main effects of loading density, trailer microclimate, transport duration, animal size and condition, management factors including bedding, ventilation, handling, facilities, and vehicle design are summarized by species. The main effects listed above all have impacts on welfare (stress, health, injury, fatigue, dehydration, core body temperature, mortality and morbidity) and carcass and meat quality (shrink, bruising, pH, color defects and water losses) to varying degrees. It is clear that the effect of road transport is a multi-factorial problem where a combination of stressors rather than a single factor is responsible for the animal's well-being and meat quality post transport. Animals least fit for transport suffer the greatest losses in terms of welfare and meat quality while market ready animals (in particular cattle and pigs) in good condition appear to have fewer issues. More research is needed to identify the factors or combination of factors with the greatest negative impacts on welfare and meat quality relative to the species, and their size, age and condition under extreme environmental conditions. Future research needs to focus on controlled scientific assessments, under NA conditions, of varying loading densities, trailer design, microclimate, and handling quality during the transport process. Achieving optimal animal well-being, carcass and meat quality will entirely depend on the quality of the animal transport process.     

Causes of cattle bruising during handling and transport in Namibia

Numerous risks associated with transport and handling of livestock cause bruising and poor welfare to animals. Variables having an influence on the level of bruising under Namibian transport conditions include animal factors (breed type, age, sex, condition and subcutaneous fat cover), pre-transport handling (re-branding of animals), transport related risks (loading density, animals lying down during transit) and lairage factors (fit of truck floor to off-loading ramp, moving to holding pen, pen size and minimum temperatures). Although no single factor was the dominant driver of bruise prevalence; load density, gravel roads, and cattle running after disembarking had a cumulative effect on bruising. Surprisingly, transport duration (3 vs 8h) had minimal effect. The overall incidence of bruising is high, with the highest levels on the hips, around the butt and pin areas. In the event of animals transported to slaughter in the central areas of Namibia, conditions surrounding transport are more important than the distance transported or journey duration.     

The effect of stocking density during 4 hour transport to slaughter on behaviour, blood constituents and carcass bruising in Friesian steers

The aim of this work was to assess the response of Friesian steers to road transportation at low, medium and high (ca 200, 300 and 600 kg/m(2)) stocking densities in terms of physiology, behaviour and carcass bruising. Stocking density was determined by adjusting the number of animals per pen (3 runs) or by adjusting pen size (3 runs). Plasma cortisol and glucose increased (P < 0·001) with stocking density, as did plasma CK activity (P < 0·001) and carcass bruising (P < 0·01) both of which indicate muscle damage. At constant stocking density stress increased with pen location towards the tail of the truck, as reflected by a significant increase in plasma cortisol. Stocking density influenced standing orientation within the truck. At low stocking density animal movement was unrestricted and the preferred orientation was standing parallel to the direction of travel; there was a strong bias against diagonal orientations. Losses of balance were associated with specific driving events, notably braking and cornering. Minor losses of balance were observed at all stocking densities, but major losses of balance including animals going down underfoot were associated with high density. When an animal went down at high stocking density it did so involuntarily and was sometimes trapped down, destabilizing other members of the group in a domino effect. Exploratory, sexual and aggressive behaviours were inhibited at high stocking density, with the exception of mounting and pushing, which increased in frequency with stocking density. It was concluded that the high stocking density adversely affected animal welfare and lowered carcass quality when compared with the medium and low stocking densities.     

Antimicrobial drug resistance of Salmonella and Escherichia coli isolates from cattle feces, hides, and carcasses

To determine patterns of cross-contamination and antibiotic susceptibility of microorganisms commonly associated with cattle, 60 cattle shipped to a commercial abattoir (20 in each of three separate trial periods) were followed through processing. Samples for bacterial isolation were collected from the feces and hides immediately before shipping, from the hides at the abattoir after exsanguination, and from the carcasses before evisceration and in the cooler. Samples were cultured for Salmonella and non-type-specific Escherichia coli. Salmonella was identified in 33.9% (n = 20) of the fecal samples and on 37.3% (n = 22) of the hides before shipment. At the abattoir, the proportion of hides from which Salmonella was isolated increased (P < 0.001) to 84.2% (48 hides). Nonspecific E. coli and Salmonella were recovered from 40.4 and 8.3% of preevisceration carcass samples, respectively. No Salmonella or nonspecific E. coli were recovered from hotbox carcass samples. Isolates were tested for antimicrobial drug susceptibility. For nonspecific E. coli, 80.3% (n = 270) of the isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial drug. For Salmonella, 97% (n = 101) of the isolates were resistant to at least one antimicrobial drug; however, only 4.0% were resistant to two or more. The most common resistance was to sulfamethoxazole. These results indicate that the presence of microorganisms resistant to antimicrobial drugs is common in cattle and beef. Further studies are needed to identify the sources and causes of this drug resistance.     

The effect of oestrus behaviour on muscle glycogen concentration and dark-cutting in beef heifers

Preliminary observations at an abattoir showed an association between oestrus behaviour and dark-cutting in beef. Two follow-up experiments examined the relationship between oestrus behaviour and muscle glycogen content, carcass bruising and meat ultimate pH. In the first experiment heifers in oestrus were compared with controls in mid-cycle. Oestrus was associated with a loss of glycogen in M. longissimus dorsi. Also plasma creatine kinase activity increased, reflecting bruising or strenuous muscle activity. In the second experiment heifers were slaughtered during oestrus. On the basis of pre-slaughter behaviour they were assigned to active or inactive groups, which subsequently yielded 39% and zero dark-cutting carcasses, respectively. Loss of muscle glycogen was accounted for by the number of times an animal mounted (r = -0·85). Likewise, variation in meat ultimate pH was associated with mounting activity (P < 0·001). Carcass bruising was higher in the active group (P < 0·0.001) and the main cause of bruising was being mounted (r = 0·74). It was concluded that single penning of oestrus heifers to eliminate mounting activity would reduce the incidence of dark-cutting.     

Characterization of Escherichia coli isolated from carcasses of beef cattle during their processing at an abattoir in Brazil

Beef carcass sponge samples collected between March 2003 and August 2005 at an abattoir in Brazil were surveyed for the presence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). Only one carcass among the 80 tested showed a STEC, stx2-encoding gene by PCR amplification. The frequency of carcass contamination by E. coli during processing was tested at three situations, respectively: preevisceration, postevisceration and postprocessing, during the rain and dry seasons. The prevalence of E. coli at the three points was of 30.0%, 70.0%, 27.5% in the rain season and of 22.5%, 55.0%, 17.5% during the dry season, respectively. The E. coli isolates exhibited a high level (45.0%) of multidrug resistance to two or more antimicrobial agents.     

Effects of feeding regimen and chilled storage on water‐holding capacity,colour stability,pigment content and oxidation in red deer (Cervus elaphus) meat

The effects of feeding regimen on carcass characteristics, meat colour and lipid stability, pigment content and water‐holding capacity of M. longissimus were studied in 16 male red deer. All animals were farm raised; eight were grazing pasture and eight were fed a pelleted commercial feed mixture for 10 weeks prior to slaughter. The pellet‐fed deer had significantly higher live weight, carcass weight, dressing yield (g kg^?1) and fat content than the pasture group. Carcasses from the pellet‐fed deer had higher temperatures over 0–10 h post mortem than carcasses from the grazing animals, probably due to an insulating fat cover. Ultimate pH values were lowest in meat from the pellet‐fed deer. The meat from the grazing deer had significantly better colour stability at 1 day post‐slaughter and after 1, 3 and 6 weeks of refrigerated storage (?1.5 °C) in vacuum bags. After 3, 6 and 12 weeks of refrigerated storage the meat from the pellet‐fed deer had significantly higher drip loss. No difference was found in the amount of oxidation products (thiobarbituric reactive substances, TBARS) when comparing the treatment groups, although the amount of TBARS increased during storage. Muscle pigment content was significantly higher in grazing deer than in the pellet‐fed group. It was not possible to confirm a correlation between lipid and pigment oxidation in the meat, and the pigment content of the meat samples did not seem to have an influence on colour stability or oxidation product formation. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry     

Using indicator bacteria and Salmonella test results from three large-scale beef abattoirs over an 18-month period to evaluate intervention system efficacy and plan carcass testing for Salmonella

To develop a process for predicting the likelihood of Salmonella contamination on beef carcasses, we evaluated the influence of several possible causative factors (i.e., year, abattoir, day of week, month, and intervention system components) on the risk of Salmonella and indicator organism contamination. Hide and carcass sponge samples were collected in 2005 to 2006 in six steps at three abattoirs in the East (A), Midwest (B), and Southwest (C) United States. Each abattoir used the same intervention system. Samples were analyzed for aerobic plate counts (APCs; n = 18,990) and Enterobacteriaceae counts (EBCs; n = 18,989) and the presence or absence of Salmonella (n = 5,355). Our results demonstrated that many factors play a significant role in the level of microbial contamination of beef carcasses. Overall, Salmonella prevalence and EBC levels were significantly higher in 2006 than in 2005. APCs and EBCs were highest in abattoirs A (3.57 log CFU/100 cm2) and B (1.31 log CFU/100 cm2). The odds of detecting a positive Salmonella isolate were greatest in abattoir C and lowest in abattoir A. Across the three abattoirs, the overall intervention process effectively reduced microbiological contamination. Salmonella prevalence fell from 45% (preevisceration) to 0.47% (postchilled-lactic acid), and there were APC and EBC reductions of 5.43 and 5.28 log CFU/100 cm2, respectively, from hide-on to postchilled-lactic acid samples. At each abattoir, composites of three individual EBC-negative carcass samples yielded Salmonella-negative results 97 to 99% of the time. These results suggest the possibility of using indicator test results to accurately predict the absence of Salmonella in a beef carcass sample.     

A comparison of biochemical and meat quality variables in red deer (Cervus elaphus) following either slaughter at pasture or killing at a deer slaughter plant

To investigate effects of pre-slaughter handling on blood and muscle biochemistry and venison quality, paddock-shot (n=8) and commercially slaughtered red deer (n=8) were compared. The deer were kept in two larger groups. One stag per group per day was head-shot, exsanguinated, electrically stimulated then transported 150 m to a deer slaughter premises (DSP) for processing. Prior to each slaughter day one of the groups was mustered into a deer yards and six (including two experimental) deer were selected for commercial handling and processing (including electrical stimulation) at the same DSP. Blood samples taken during exsanguination showed higher levels of cortisol, progesterone, glucose, lactate, albumin, creatine kinase, lactate dehydrogenase, aspartate aminotransferase and packed cell volume in the DSP-killed deer compared with the paddock-shot deer (P<0.05). Interpretation of these values indicated that pre-slaughter handling created moderate stress and high levels of muscular exertion or damage, possibly related to antagonism during lairage. However muscle glycogen, pH and meat quality measurements showed only minor, muscle-specific differences between treatments.     

Carcass characteristics of Neuquén Criollo kids in Patagonia region, Argentina

Carcass characteristics of 336 kids from the Neuquén Criollo breed were evaluated. Two categories were taken into account: three months and 5 to 7 months kids. Live weight, carcass weights, measurement and indexes of 304 kids were calculated in a study done in a commercial slaughterhouse located in Chos Malal town. Thirty two carcass left sides were dissected into the major components: muscle, bone, fat and remaining tissues. Three months kids were compared with 5 to 7 months kids. The slaughter live weight of the former was 16.3kg and the latter was 22.4kg. Cold carcass weight and dressing percentage differed significantly (p<0.001) between age categories. Three months kids had a higher percentage of bones (26.8 vs. 21.7%; p<0.001) and a lower percentage of fat (10.8 vs. 15%; p<0.01) than those at 5-7 months, but both had similar percentages of muscle (56.4 vs. 57%; p=NS). There were significant differences in the percentages of primal carcass cuts: hind leg (32 vs. 34%; p<0.001), shoulder (22 vs. 20%; p<0.001) and neck, (10 vs. 8%; p<0.01) for three months vs. 5-7 months old kids, respectively.     

Implementation of management recommendations in unweaned dairy calves in western Germany and associated challenges

To improve the welfare of livestock, it is important to assess management practices on farms and to identify areas where current scientific recommendations are rarely implemented. Differences in the implementation of recommendations might be explained by the individual farm as well as the characteristics of survey respondents and their attitude toward animal welfare. Hence, the aim of this study was to assess dairy calf management practices, compare them with current scientific recommendations, and to explore factors that influence implementation of the recommended management practices. A 1.5-h interview was performed with stockpersons on 42 dairy farms (mean herd size ± SD = 149.9 ± 16.6 cows) distributed across western Germany in 2018 to 2019. We observed that the management of unweaned calves varied greatly from farm to farm in aspects such as milk-feeding protocols; timing of grouping and disbudding; and access to water, roughage, and concentrate. Major deviations from management recommendations were (1) cleaning calving pen only by removal of bedding without a following disinfection before restocking on 23.8% farms, cleaning of teat buckets without detergents and disinfection (23.8 and 11.9% of farms, respectively), and failure to disinfect navels (29.3% of farms); (2) separating calf and dam after only 5 to 8 h postpartum for calving at night in 97.6% farms and unchecked colostrum quality by 23.8% of survey respondents; (3) feeding waste milk by 72.4% of the farms surveyed; and (4) removing supernumerary teats and disbudding without local anesthesia (90 and 80% farms surveyed, respectively). The number of implemented recommendations on the farms surveyed correlated with who was responsible for calf rearing, and whether prioritizing animal welfare was considered important by the respondents. This study indicated that limitations of individual housing systems, time management, the stockperson's knowledge, and the stockperson's ability to relate to animals posed challenges in implementation of the recommendations. Further research on challenges in calf management and how to overcome them would be helpful to improve calves' welfare in current husbandry systems.     

Associations between the presence and magnitude of Escherichia coli O157 in feces at harvest and contamination of preintervention beef carcasses

To quantify associations at slaughter between Escherichia coli O157 carcass contamination, fecal-positive animals, and high-shedding animals within truckloads of finished cattle, we sampled up to 32 cattle from each of 50 truckloads arriving at a commercial abattoir in the Midwest United States during a 5-week summer period. Carcass swab samples collected pre-evisceration and fecal samples collected postevisceration were matched within animals and analyzed for the presence of E. coli O157, using enrichment, immunomagnetic separation, and plating on selective media (IMS). In addition, a direct plating procedure was performed on feces to identify high-shedding animals. E. coli O157 was isolated from 39 (2.6%) of 1,503 carcass samples in 15 (30%) truckloads, and 127 (8.5%) of 1,495 fecal samples in 37 (74%) truckloads. Fifty-five (3.7%) high-shedding animals were detected from 26 (52%) truckloads. Truckload high-shedder (Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient [r(s)] = 0.68), IMS-positive (r(s) = 0.48), and combined fecal (r(s) = 0.61) prevalence were significantly correlated with carcass prevalence. The probability of isolating E. coli O157 from a carcass was not significantly associated with the high-shedder or fecal IMS status of the animal from which the carcass was derived. However, the probability of carcass contamination was significantly associated with all truckload-level measures of fecal E. coli O157, particularly whether or not a high shedder was present within the truckload (odds ratio = 16.2; 95% confidence interval, 6.3-43.6). Our results suggest that high shedders within a truckload at slaughter could be a target for mitigation strategies to reduce the probability of preevisceration carcass contamination.     

Animal welfare and society concerns finding the missing link

Young adults in developed countries are distanced from agriculture and the meat industry needs to do a better job of communicating with them. A major welfare concern is slaughter without stunning. Other concerns, such as poor stunning or high levels of bruising, can be easily corrected by management who is committed to maintaining high standards. Another concern is biological system overload, occurring when animals are bred for more productivity. Researchers and industry need to determine optimum production levels instead of maximums. Retailers are major drivers of animal welfare standards enforcement and they respond to pressure from both activists and consumers.     

Relationships of fat-tail dimensions with fat-tail weight and carcass characteristics at different slaughter weights of Torki-Ghashghaii sheep

The purpose of this research was to investigate the relationship between fat-tail and carcass attributes in Torki-Ghashghaii sheep. Thirty ram lambs belonging to six weight groups (weighing from 25 to 50kg) were used. Fat-tail measurements were recorded on the live animals before slaughter. Hot and cold (after 24h in the cold room) carcass weights, and the weights of the tail and internal organs were recorded. The carcass was dissected into conventional cuts. Each cut was de-boned and the physically separable fat was removed from the meat. The bone, physical fat and trimmed meat were weighed separately. The weight of trimmed meat as a percentage of slaughter weight did not change significantly from 25 to 50kg live weights (23.4-25.3%). The weights of physically separated fat and the fat-tail as a percentage of live weight varied from 6.6% to 15.5% for various weight groups. The correlation coefficients between the tail weight and dimensions were large, positive, and significant. The highest correlation coefficient was found between the tail weight and upper circumference (r=0.88), and the lowest one was found between the tail weight and upper thickness (r=0.61). The upper and lower circumferences of the tail accounted for 85% of the total variation in the tail weight. The tail weight was positively correlated with the meat chemically determined fat (ether extract; r=0.43; P<0.05) and with the total body fat (r=0.70; P<0.01). Further studies are needed to see whether inclusion of fat-tail measurements in breeding programs would result in a decrease in body fat in this breed.     

Development of a benchmarking tool to assess the welfare of dairy cattle on small-scale farms

Public concern about the welfare of farm animals and the livestock industry's awareness of the need to improve animal welfare have led to the implementation of new tools designed to meet this objective. Especially in the case of small-scale farms in marginalized areas, the lack of available data specifically for assessing welfare led to the present study. Its aim was to use animal- and resource-based indicators that are representative of small-scale farms, to establish an index and develop a benchmarking tool that can be used to dynamically evaluate the welfare of cattle on farms with different husbandry systems and provide farmers, veterinarians, extension officers, and stakeholders with reliable information that can be used as a decision support tool. For this reason, 1,891 cows from 204 herds housed in freestall (n = 111) and tiestall (n = 93) husbandry systems in South Tyrol (Northern Italy) were evaluated. The results showed that 17.6% of herds (36 farms) had an average score below 60 (out of 100), which means that immediate intervention should be adopted to improve welfare. South Tyrolean dairy farms performed well in terms of lameness, skin alterations, avoidance behavior, number and space of lying areas, and dystocia occurrence scores, whereas water supply, cow cleanliness status, claw conformation, and getting-up behavior offered significant potential for improvement. Significant differences were observed between housing systems scoring less than 60 out of 100 points in 9.9% (n = 11) and 26.9%, (n = 25), of the herds kept in freestalls and tiestalls, respectively. A slight difference was found when comparing the percentage of herds with high scores, which corresponded to 30.6% (n = 34) of herds housed in freestalls and 22.6% (n = 21) of herds housed in tiestall housing systems. In addition, it was shown that animals reared on farms with tiestalls more often had problems with body condition, cleanliness, and skin alterations. All individual welfare indicators in the top 25% of herds had scores above 80, indicating that this may be an attainable target for freestall and tiestall herds, respectively, to promote good dairy cow welfare. The overall aim must be to adopt measures to increase the scores on all farms closer to this level.     

Diversity of Campylobacter isolates from retail poultry carcasses and from humans as demonstrated by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis

Campylobacter spp. are a major contaminant of poultry. Eating undercooked chicken and handling raw poultry have been identified as risk factors for campylobacteriosis in humans. Previous studies have found Campylobacter spp. on 90% of poultry carcasses. In the present study, pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) was used to assess the genetic diversity of strains on retail poultry carcasses. PFGE patterns of isolates from campylobacteriosis cases were compared to those from the poultry isolates. Over a 1-year study period (March 2000 through February 2001), whole fresh young chickens (n = 72) were obtained from three retail outlets in an urban community in the south-central United States. Campylobacter spp. were isolated from 82% of these carcasses. Strains (n = 70) were defined on the basis of their PFGE pattern. Sixty-seven percent of the carcasses from which Campylobacter spp. were isolated were contaminated with more than one PFGE-distinguishable strain. During the 1-year study period, most of the PFGE patterns (59%) were limited to isolates obtained from a single carcass. Forty-one percent of the PFGE-distinguishable strains were recovered from more than one carcass. Ninety-seven percent of the carcasses contaminated with the same strain were purchased at the same time from the same store. To examine the degree of genetic stability, four strains were followed in vitro over an estimated 1,000 doublings. The PFGE pattern of one of these isolates underwent minor changes during in vitro growth. The data indicate extensive variability in the PFGE patterns of Campylobacter spp. isolated from humans and from poultry carcasses. In spite of difficulties caused by such diversity and the fact that some carcasses are contaminated with more than one strain, the pattern variation provides a useful method for linking a particular strain to its source.     

The effect of pretreatment on the fermentation of honeybush tea (Cyclopia maculata)

Different pretreatments (bruising, hot and cold water) were used to study their effect on fermentation as measured by the quality parameters of honeybush tea (Cyclopia maculata). Bruising and pretreatment with water (hot and cold) were investigated as means to increase the fermentation rate and to improve product quality. The development of the desired dark-brown colour and honey-like flavour during fermentation was faster in hot and cold water treated material and gave a more uniform coloured product than with the bruising pretreatment. Liquor characteristics also improved with water pretreatment. A red–brown extract, compared with the light yellow–brown of untreated samples, was obtained with the water pretreatment. Hot water pretreatment inactivated the enzymes polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and peroxidase (POD), but did not terminate or impair fermentation. The inactivation of the enzymes, together with high temperature (>60°C) fermentation, indicated a chemical oxidation process rather than an enzymatic reaction in honeybush tea fermentation. © 1998 SCI.