Production factors that influence the hygienic condition of finished beef cattle

Abstract

A survey was conducted at five UK abattoirs to trace the source of dirty beef cattle and identify factors in the production chain that contributed to their dirtiness. The Meat Hygiene Service Clean Livestock score categories were used and the animals' histories were traced back to their farm of origin. Comprehensive information was collected relating to the farm, transport and lairage phases for 675 cattle from 85 batches. The mean score of the animals on arrival at the abattoir was 1.57, with 2.8 per cent in categories 3 and 4, and none in category 5. Regression analysis, blocking the data by farm of origin, revealed that age, feed type, coat length, clipping, journey distance and time, and abattoir were the six principal factors that affected the scores. Cattle under 20 months of age were cleaner than older cattle. Dry diets resulted in lower scores than wet diets. 'Shorthair' cattle were cleaner than 'medium' or 'longhair' cattle, and cattle which had been clipped were cleaner than unclipped animals. The cattle which had travelled over 150 miles (15 per cent) were dirtier than the others. Within each abattoir there were variations in score between 1 and 4, and the mean scores of the five abattoirs ranged from 1.19 to 1.76. A significant part of this variation could only be accounted for by unmeasured variables such as abattoir management practice, assessors' categorisations and climate.

Interventions to control Salmonella contamination during poultry, cattle and pig slaughter

“…Slaughtering of visually clean animals is one of the prerequisites to reduce both general abattoir contamination and direct or indirect microbial carcass contamination (Davies et al, 2000); this is also supported by Codex Alimentarius (2005) and EU regulators (EC, 2004a,b). Dirty animals produce carcasses with higher microbial contamination levels compared to control carcasses fabricated from relatively clean animals (Kiermeier et al, 2006;Ridell & Korkeala, 1993).…”

Review of the impact of pre-slaughter feed curfews of cattle, sheep and goats on food safety and carcase hygiene in Australia

“…These are based on scoring the dirtiness of hides and fleeces and have been developed for research and pre-regulatory evaluation (Collis et al, 2004;Davies, Hadley, Stosic, & Webster, 2000;Hadley et al, 1997;Jordan, McEwen, Wilson, McNab, & Lammerding, 1999;McEvoy et al, 2000) and regulatory use (Ridell & Korkeala, 1993). Jordan et al (1999), in evaluating the reliability of five cattle "faecal dag" rates, demonstrated a high degree of correlation between the rates at both the individual and lot level in lot-fed cattle.…”

Distribution of microflora on cattle hides and its transmission to meat via direct contact

“…Some published studies indicate that breeds having typically longer hair (e.g. Simmental) have higher potential to become contaminated (Davies, Hadley, Stosic, & Webster, 2000). However, bovines in this study were examined during warmer season (late summer) when hides of both involved breeds had similar hair length.…”