Meat inspection: an overview of present practices andfuture trends

Prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in cattle in the highlands of Cameroon based on the detection of lesions in slaughtered cattle and tuberculin skin tests of live cattle

“…Poor clinical meat inspection records, which could not be relied upon, have been reported in Cameroon (Awah-Ndukum et al 2005;Awah-Ndukum et al 2010). The findings of this study agree with earlier reports that post mortem surveillance through the detection of bovine TB lesions depend on the work load, time and diligence of the inspector conducting the examination (Corner et al 1990;Edwards et al 1997;Shitaye et al 2006).…”

“…Thus, the increasing trend recorded may not have been an actual increase of the disease state but is probably due to improved diagnostic awareness of the disease and intensification of the slaughter/meat inspection procedure. Edwards et al (1997) have stated that while in need of modification, meat inspections still play an important role in meat safety and quality assurance for consumers, and should also be based on the identification SICCT-BT = single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin skin test to detect bovine TB SIT-BT = single intradermal tuberculin skin test to detect bovine TB a-c different letters in a class of labels are significantly different (P < 0.05) and analysis of risks. Indeed, limited progress with bovine TB eradication schemes in some industrialised countries and the increasing involvement of non-tuberculous mycobacteria in mycobacterial illnesses in animals and humans (Edwards et al 1997;Biet et al 2005), justify the continued maintenance of intensive post mortem examination of carcasses (Edwards et al 1997).…”

“…Further, the interpretation of results is highly subjective and prone to errors such as those possible when interpreting differences in colony morphology (Strong and Kubica 1985;Grange et al 1996;Ameni et al 2010). Though also prone to inspector subjectivities and errors, meat inspection provides very significant insight into the prevalence of many infectious diseases and plays vital roles in both the quality assurance and quality control systems for the gross inspection of carcasses (Edwards et al 1997;Hinton and Green 1997;Asseged et al 2004). Major improvements in animal and human health with regard to consumer protection and eradication of epizootic TB in many developed countries was achieved when a drastic reduction in relevant or suspicious lesions at meat inspection was strictly employed to provide the quality and protection demanded for consumers (Grossklaus 1987;Hinton and Green 1997).…”

“…Major improvements in animal and human health with regard to consumer protection and eradication of epizootic TB in many developed countries was achieved when a drastic reduction in relevant or suspicious lesions at meat inspection was strictly employed to provide the quality and protection demanded for consumers (Grossklaus 1987;Hinton and Green 1997). The implementation of the post mortem detection of TB lesions in carcasses and during meat inspection of slaughtered animals has been proposed (Corner 1994;Edwards et al 1997;Shitaye et al 2006), and continues to be the appropriate diagnostic and surveillance tool in many developing countries where bovine TB is endemic.…”

Effects of scalding and dehairing of pig carcasses at abattoirs on the visibility of welfare-related lesions

“…In addition to avoiding biosecurity issues associated with entering farms, abattoir-based welfare assessment avoids potential problems associated with having to assess animals in crowded, dirty or poorly-lit conditions (Edwards et al, 1997;Velarde et al, 2005). However, the extent to which routine carcass processing, in the form of scalding and dehairing, either masks or unveils key welfare-related skin lesions in pigs is unclear.…”