Injury and condemnation data of pigs at slaughterhouses with federal inspection in the State of Paraná, Brazil, as indicators of welfare during transportation

Abstract

Pigs transportation is a critical stage for their welfare and can directly influence the rates of carcass condemnation. The objective of this research was to study the injuries and condemnation data recorded in the Federal Inspection System (SIF) as potential welfare indicators during pig transport. In federally inspected slaughterhouses in the State of Paraná, Brazil, from january 2011 to December 2016, 1.4% (602,006) of carcasses were condemned, 15.0% (90,426) as a result of injuries related to transportation. From total condemnation cases, 12.1% (72,759) were due to traumatic injury, 2.5% (15,144) to PSE, 0.4% (2,327) to dead on arrival and 0.03% (196) to other transportation welfare indicators. There was no correlation between the condemnation rates and the meteorological data. The results exposed the need for improvement in pig transport conditions. In addition, this study allowed us to point out possible improvements in the collection of nosographic data into the SIF’s Management Information System (SIGSIF), such as inclusion of other injuries associated with welfare restrictions, standardization of the terms that already exist in the system, improvement in the indicator measurements, development of regulations and training for professionals involved. Results suggested that SIGSIF data are useful for monitoring the welfare of pigs during transportation, with potential for refinement from improvements in data recording.

Trailer Heat Zones and Their Relation to Heat Stress in Pig Transport

“…This scenario, in addition to reducing the thermoregulation capacity of pigs, since heat dissipation through panting becomes inefficient (Nardone et al, 2010), can cause a high energy cost and result in excessive CO2 loss (Mota-Rojas et al, 2012), causing a drop in partial pressure and in the concentration of carbonic acid and hydrogen, which can increase the DOA rate (Tasse & Molento, 2019), dehydration (Machado et al, 2016) and time post-transport recovery of animals (Johnson et al, 2018).…”

Predictivity of Antemortem Findings on Postmortem Inspection in Italian Heavy Pigs Slaughterhouses

“…In this study, in seven of the 182 analyzed batches, pigs were found dead during the transport (‘dead on arrival’), while, in 23 of the 182 analyzed batches, pigs reported lesions that required suppression in the pen (‘suppressed’), respectively. These findings emphasize the importance of the transport of the pigs to the slaughterhouse, which represents a critical point in the pig production chain [ 34 ]. The mortality due to transport can be considered an appropriate indicator of the welfare during the transport for pigs.…”

A Retrospective Study after 10 Years (2010–2019) of Meat Inspection Activity in a Domestic Swine Abattoir in Tuscany: The Slaughterhouse as an Epidemiological Observatory

“…The analysis of partial condemnations was focused on the four most frequently condemned organs: liver, lung, heart, and kidney ( Table 3 ), which will be discussed below and compared with the available literature, although several studies excluded partial condemnation data from their analysis [ 30 , 41 , 44 ]. Liver condemnations were the most frequent, as already observed in another study conducted in central Italy [ 22 ].…”

“…The transport of live pigs remains a critical point in the European pig meat chain [42,43]. The same issue has been reported in third countries [41,44]. In fact, although transport represents a short phase compared to the total duration of the production cycle, it involves a wide variety of highly stressful elements [43,45].…”