Meat inspection in the Australian red‐meat industries: past, present and future

Abstract

Postmortem inspection of carcases and offal has been a cornerstone of consumer protection in the red-meat industry for over a century. In 2011, there began strong moves to reform the traditional process of meat inspection applied to cattle, sheep and goats in Australia. A major motivation was the widespread acceptance that organoleptic inspection does little to control the most important hazards in meat products - microbial pathogens derived from gut flora. The watershed reforms in international trade provided another incentive by encouraging the application of a risk-based approach to food safety, which allows for the discontinuation of processes that do not enhance public health outcomes. As well, there was a strong imperative to ensure that resources allocated to quality assurance delivered maximum economic benefit for both consumers and processors. This review discusses how the role of meat inspection is likely to evolve into the future under the influence of these forces. It summarises how the current system was derived through repeated modification over time, mainly to satisfy the requirements of trading partners. Major developments are summarised, focusing especially on how the inclusion of particular organoleptic techniques was initially justified and the relevance of these to modern meat production. Overall, analysis of past and present practices suggests that in the future both public health and efficiency will be better served by strategically integrating the most effective elements of traditional organoleptic inspection with information from the preslaughter period and the use of modern technology for rapid and accurate detection of hazards.

Inspection of lymph nodes for caseous lymphadenitis and its effect on the density of microbes on sheep carcasses

“…Manual inspection for CLA was first instigated over a century ago at a time when macroscopic abnormalities were assumed to pose a safety risk and there was little understanding of the role of hygiene in extending the shelf life of products and protecting consumers from bacterial illness (Walker et al, 2000;Webber et al, 2012). Consequently, manual palpation for CLA lesions became entrenched in the culture of "traditional meat inspection" with little concern for the impact on carcass microbiology.…”

Laboratory diagnostic methods

“…Ongoing needs to improve the economic performance of meat supply chains have seen a trend toward meat inspection reform around the world (Webber et al, 2012). Among other drivers, the low sensitivity of meat inspection that can negatively impact food safety, as well as low specificity that reduces economic profitability, are key attributes that processors and food safety managers seek to improve.…”

“…Meat inspection for cysticercosis has increasingly been recognized as timeconsuming, costly, and of limited value in countries with low prevalence (Calvo-Artavia et al, 2013;Webber et al, 2012). With current, global reforms toward more risk-based approaches in meat inspection, efforts to enhance laboratory diagnostic methods for suspect Taenia spp.…”

John (Jack) Henry Irvine

“…The authors of a review of the history of red-meat inspection in Australia discuss the demands on the industry and speculate on where it is headed in the future. 6 Although postmortem inspection of carcases and offal has been the cornerstone of consumer protection in the red-meat industry for over a century, recognition that organoleptic inspection does little to control the most important hazards in meat products (microbial pathogens derived from gut flora) has prompted calls for an overhaul of meat inspection practices.…”