Major Causes and Associated Economic Losses of Carcass and Organ Condemnation in Cattle and Sheep in the Northern Part of Palestine.

Abstract

Identifying and quantifying the causes of condemnation of carcasses and organs at the slaughterhouse level is the first step in disease surveillance aimed at preventing or decreasing losses at the abattoir. The aim of this study was to evaluate the causes of organ and carcass condemnations and the financial loss due to these condemnations. A slaughterhouse survey was conducted for six months to determine the major causes of carcass and organ condemnation in cattle and sheep and the associated financial loss at the Nablus Municipal Slaughterhouse at the West Bank in Palestine. A total of 6344 sheep, and 3042 cattle were examined during this period. The condemnations were registered during standard postmortem pathological examination done by the veterinarians at the slaughterhouse. The results of organ condemnation during the study period showed that seven whole carcasses, 77 whole offal, 208 livers, 692 lungs, 46 hearts, 273 kidneys, and 96 spleens were condemned during this period. The financial loss due to the rejection of carcass and organs from the slaughtered animals during the study period was estimated to be 16356 USD. Both parasitic infestations and bacterial diseases were responsible for the highest economic losses, although other pathological lesions such as fatty change, incomplete bleeding, discoloration and tumors, were also encountered. The results of this slaughterhouse study showed that the parasitic infestations were the most common cause of condemnations in sheep, and bacterial diseases were the most common cause of condemnations in cattle. There was no doubt that effective disease control programs and preventive measures should be immediately implemented in the Palestinian territories to prevent and decrease the causes of diseases transmitted through meat. The emphasis should be placed on effective meat inspection, proper disposal of organ condemnation and standard animal husbandry health care to exclude zoonotic diseases and associated financial loss.

Reasons for the seizure of cattle meat, their prevalence, and socio-economic impact in the Cotonou slaughterhouse

“…These economic losses in the cattle industry are mainly due to mortality, organ and carcass seizures, reduced meat production, and increased expenses for animal treatment [4,5]. According to Abuseir et al (2019), a slaughterhouse is a wealth of valuable information on the incidence of disease and the condition of individual animals [6]. The production loss of the livestock industry worldwide is estimated to be more than USD 900 million per year [7,8,9].…”