Major causes of organ and carcass condemnation and associated financial losses in cattle slaughtered at Kombolcha ELFORA abattoir from 2008-2012, Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the major causes of organ and/or carcass condemnation and to estimate the financial loss encountered in cattle slaughtered at ELFORA abattoir. The study is based on retrospective analysis of five year data record at slaughter house cattle (n=21864) and active abattoir survey involving pre and postmortem inspection of 1200 cattle conducted from October 2013 to April 2014. From a total of 23,064 slaughtered cattle, both during retrospective and cross-sectional studies, 15,971 (69.2%) had one or more than one type of abnormalities that lead to organ and/or carcass condemnation. Of these 67.7%, 40.3%, 38.8%, 23.0%, 19.9%, 7.0% and 5.0% were accounted to pathologies attributed to liver, kidney, lung, spleen, heart, tongue and heads condemnation, respectively. Liver was the most commonly condemned organ due to zoonotic parasites (32.8%), which include Fasciola species, Cysticercus bovis and Cystic echinococcosis. Parasites were the major causes of organs particularly liver, lung and heart condemnation. Carcass condemnation was mainly attributed to TB and TB like lesions, oedema, abscess and Cysticercus bovis. Overall, the total economic loss incurred due to organ and carcass condemnation was estimated to reach 3,522,005.00 Ethiopian Birr during the study period. Hence, awareness creation through animal health extension work and treatment of sick animal will play key role in reducing the loss. Implementation of detailed meat inspection at the abattoir is recommended. Also further study to identify the causative agents of abscess; and to characterize hydatid cysts, and causes of tubercle like lesions will be important for designing control strategy.

Parasitic infections as major cause of abattoir condemnations in cattle slaughtered at an Ethiopian abattoir: 10-year retrospective study

“…Most of the abscesses were located at injection sites (neck and gluteal region), indicating that the cause was probably the use of unsterilized needles or syringes or struggling of animals due to improper restraining, as indicated by the presence of broken needles in muscles of two carcasses. In contrast to our findings, Sheferaw and Abdu (2017) reported tuberculosis and tuberculosis-like lesions as the major cause of carcass condemnation in the same abattoir. This may be due to the fact that tuberculosis cases were excluded from our study because of insufficient or ambiguous information on diagnosis.…”

“…Similar to our findings, liver and lung were reported to be major condemned organs in cattle in the same abattoir (Sheferaw and Abdu, 2017), in slaughterhouses of other parts of Ethiopia (Alembrhan and Haylegebriel, 2013; Regassa et al , 2013) and in other countries, including Tanzania (Mellau et al , 2011) and Nigeria (Alawa et al , 2011). The most common causes of lung and liver condemnation were parasitic diseases, i.e.…”

“…This finding accords with Assefa and Tesfay (2013) and Borji et al (2012), who reported the occurrence of hydatidosis in lungs of slaughtered cattle as 5.1% and 3.8% in northern Ethiopia and south-western Iran, respectively. However, Efrem et al (2015), Tenaw et al (2015) and Sheferaw and Abdu (2017) reported higher prevalence of hydatidosis in western Ethiopia (12.17%), central Ethiopia (16.62%) and in the same abattoir (9.6%), respectively. This variation in prevalence of hydatidosis may be associated with factors such as control measures adopted, level of awareness, education and economic status of the local population, the presence of specific strains of E. granulosus , and agroclimatic conditions in the study area (Ibrahim, 2010).…”

“…The primary agents that cause pericarditis in cattle include viruses, bacteria and mycoplasma, which mostly arise through the hematogenous route as in septicemic conditions or through perforation of the pericardial sac by an infected foreign body via the reticulum, or from direct extension of pathogens from nearby structures (FAO, 2007). Mesele et al (2012) also reported pericarditis and hydatidosis as the predominant reasons for condemnation of heart and kidney, respectively, in cattle slaughtered in Gondar, north-west Ethiopia, and Mellau et al (2011) and Sheferaw and Abdu (2017) reported pericarditis as the leading cause of heart condemnation in the Arusha region, Tanzania, and Kombolcha ELFORA, Ethiopia. Abscess was the major reason for head and tongue condemnation, similar to the findings of Mummed and Webb (2015).…”

“…The present study revealed that several different conditions resulted in the wastage of a large number of organs and carcasses, thereby reducing the availability of a cheap source of nutrients (including protein, vitamins and minerals), and depriving farmers and cattle traders of valuable income. Although similar work has been done on this abattoir in the past (Sheferaw and Abdu, 2017), yearly trends of various conditions responsible and associated financial losses were not described and the economic losses due to partial condemnation of organs such as liver and lung were not included. Moreover, this study covers data from 10 years to minimize the influence of environmental variables on the overall findings.…”