Skin lesions monitoring on slaughtered pigs v1

Abstract

On a high speed slaughter line for pigs, skin scratches were separately scored in the posterior region (defined as the area including the hind legs and the tail) and the anterior one (as the remaining area), while the whole carcass was examined for external hematomas. Chronic ear and tail lesions referable to the rearing phase, and bursitis were recorded as retrospective welfare indicators.

Prevalence of carcass lesions and their effects on welfare, carcass composition and meat quality in slaughtered pigs

“…The present investigation found the highest percentage of severe lesions and lesions on the anterior carcass part in pigs after long lairaging (>16 h). The obtained results could be attributed to longer fasting periods in those groups of pigs (>40 h), which together with prolonged lairaging, leads to a considerable increase in the fighting extent and degree of social dominance assertion, especially after commingling with unfamiliar pigs, which contribute to increased prevalence of carcass lesions and lesions on the anterior part (Bottacini et al, 2018;Dokmanović et al, 2017;Driessen et al, 2020a;Faucitano, 2010). In addition, the highest percentages of severe lesions and lesions on the anterior carcass part were recorded in pigs subjected to low lairage density (>1 m 2 /pig).…”

“…The prevalence of carcass lesions showed a seasonal pattern, with the lowest occurrence observed in springtime and peaks occurring in winter. The greater prevalence of carcass lesions during winter is linked with more frequent standing behaviour during transportation, to avoid contact with the cold lorry floor or walls, combined with the slipperiness of wet (un)loading ramps and lorry floors (Arduini et al, 2014;Bottacini et al, 2018;Scheeren et al, 2014). These inappropriate conditions may result in pigs losing their balance during handling and/or careless driving, resulting in a higher occurrence of carcass lesions due to trampling or falls (Scheeren et al, 2014).…”

“…Carcass lesions are one of the earliest, most common and easily recognisable signs of suboptimal welfare, which reflect poor social and physical environments and cause unnecessary pain, depicting escalating inefficiency and neglect within a pork production chain (Bottacini et al, 2018;Carroll et al, 2016;Driessen et al, 2020a;Guàrdia et al, 2009;Teixeira and Boyle, 2014). Together with tail lesions, carcass lesions were recently considered as one of the main pig welfare indicators by a panel of international animal welfare experts, highlighting their potential use as iceberg indicators, meaning that these relatively simple measurements should function as a warning signal of underlying welfare problems (Bottacini et al, 2018;Carroll et al, 2016;European Food Safety Authority, 2012). Considering that skin lesions measured on the carcass are more sensitive animal welfare indicators than those measured on the live pig (Brandt and Aaslyng, 2015; van Staaveren et al, 2015), monitoring of carcass lesions at the abattoir can be used as a valuable practical tool when documenting pig welfare on the day of slaughter (Aaslyng et al, 2013;Driessen et al, 2020b).…”

“…The vast majority of earlier studies (Bottacini et al, 2018;Dalla Costa et al, 2007;Driessen et al, 2020 a;Faucitano et al, 2001) only focused on one or two important factors affecting the prevalence of carcass lesions in slaughtered pigs. However, carcass lesions can occur at any point within the pork production chain, due to inappropriate housing and handling of the pigs on the farm, during loading (mixing of unfamiliar animals, poor handling and inadequate infrastructure and facility design), transportation (poor lorry design, careless driving style, short/long transportation time, high/low loading density, inadequate floor, and poor environmental conditions), unloading at the abattoir, lairaging (inadequate infrastructure and facility design, poor environmental conditions, long lairage time, high/low density and prolonged fasting) and even during stunning procedures (Driessen et al, 2020 a;Guàrdia et al, 2009;Scheeren et al, 2014).…”

“…Animal characteristics such as breed, gender, live weight, age and genotype can also affect the prevalence of carcass lesions in slaughtered pigs (Čobanović et al, 2016 a;Guàrdia et al, 2009). Therefore, understanding the causes of carcass lesions is challenging due to the diversity of factors that have been shown to be related to their prevalence (Bottacini et al, 2018;Driessen et al, 2020 a). Moreover, animal characteristics and preslaughter factors can interact with one another and have a cumulative effect on carcass lesion risk.…”