Welfare measurements of finishing pigs on the day of slaughter: A review

Brandt, Pia; Aaslyng, Margit Dall

doi:10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.12.004

Cited by 60 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 78 publications

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“…However, the related effects on meat quality variation must be considered. Recently, Brandt and Dall Aaslyng (2015) reviewed that the main stages on the day of slaughter at which skin damage occurs in finishing pigs is in the pickup facilities, although this describes the sum of occurrences throughout the day of slaughter in terms of skin damage that has been assessed and documented.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of transport density and gender on skin temperature and carcass and meat quality in pigs

Pereira¹,

Corassa²,

Komiyama³

et al. 2017

Biosci. J.

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Pre-slaughter handling of pigs established properly is very important, not only from the point of view of welfare, but also for the quality of meat. The aim of present research was to evaluate the effect of gender and density of pigs during their transport to the abattoir on the skin temperature and carcass and meat quality. Were used 192 (115.54 ± 6.03 kg) finishing pigs to investigate the effects of gender (barrows and gilts) and transport densities for slaughter (236, 251, and 275 kg/m²) on the skin temperature and carcass and meat quality. Average skin temperature between genders and transport densities at any point of time during pre-slaughter did not differ. Skin temperatures before unloading had the highest average value relative to all other time points, followed by immediately after unloading and remaining the same for the next 2 h. Lowest skin temperature value was registered on pigs at the pre-slaughter time followed by farm and at loading times. Pigs transported with different densities did not show differences for the skin carcass lesions. Meat from pigs transported at 275 kg/m² presented higher frequency of red, soft, exudative (RSE) and lower of red, firm, non-exudative (RFN) classes as compared to those for other densities. Animals transported at 236 and 251 kg/m² did not differ as the frequency of RSE and RFN meat. Skin temperature of pigs oscillate along the pre-slaughter times and the pre-slaughter transport of pigs at 236 and 251 kg/m² generates less frequency classes of faulty pork, although difference in the densities did not have any effect on the skin temperature and skin lesions.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of transport density and gender on skin temperature and carcass and meat quality in pigs

Pereira¹,

Corassa²,

Komiyama³

et al. 2017

Biosci. J.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Additionally, increased physical stress just prior to electric stunning and tonic and clonic convulsions accelerate post-mortem glycolysis, leading to the occurrence of PSE meat. During CO 2 stunning, the pigs are moved into the stunning chamber in groups using their natural group behaviour [11]. The development of these systems reduced the stress before slaughter and, consequently, the appearance of PSE and DFD meat.…”

Section: Race To the Stunning Chamber And Stunning Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stress caused by transport can result in pig fatigue, injury, poor meat quality and ultimately death [10]. The factors during transport that may compromise pig welfare are loading and unloading, journey duration and ambient temperature, placement on the transporter, stocking density, vibrations, floor type and bedding, mixing animals from different groups and food and water deprivation [11]. The interaction of these factors, plus the time spent in lairage and handling of pigs, makes it difficult to assess the impact of transport on pork quality.…”

Section: Transportmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pre-slaughter stress and pork quality

Stajković

Teodorović

Baltić

et al. 2017

IOP Conf. Ser.: Earth Environ. Sci.

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Abstract. Stress is an inevitable consequence of handling of animals for slaughter. Stress conditions during transport, lairage and at slaughter induce undesirable effects on the end quality of meat such as pale, soft, exudative meat and dark firm dry meat. Hence, it is very important to define appropriate parameters for objective assessment of level of stress. Attempts to define measures of stress have been difficult and no physiological parameter has been successfully used to evaluate stress situations. One physiological change in swine associated with animal handling stress and with pork quality is an increase in blood lactate concentration. Plasma cortisol was thought to be an appropriate indicator of stress, but the concentration was not consistently changed by different stressors. Therefore, finding alternative parameters reacting to stressors, such as acute phase proteins, would be of great value for the objective evaluation of level of stress and meat quality. As the stress during pre-slaughter handling is unavoidable, the final goal is to improve transport and slaughter conditions for the animal and, as a consequence, meat quality and animal welfare.

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“…For short-term stressors such as handling, physiological measures of stress may be really useful if the blood is sampled shortly after handling. Physiological measures can easily show differences between low-stress and high-stress handling (Edwards et al 2010;Brandt and Aaslying 2015). At the slaughter plant, when pigs and cattle were moved with electric prods or jammed in the race that leads to the stunner, lactate and glucose concentrations are higher (Edwards et al 2010;Gruber et al 2010).…”

Section: Use Of Physiological Measures To Evaluate Handling Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Livestock-handling assessments to improve the welfare of cattle, pigs and sheep

Grandin¹

2018

Anim. Prod. Sci.

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Abstract. Assessing animal welfare during handling for veterinary procedures or loading onto a truck is simpler than is assessing welfare in housing. The first step is preventing acts of abuse that everybody who is interested in animal welfare would want stopped. Acts of abuse include beating animals, poking sensitive areas, dragging downed animals, deliberate slamming of gates on animals or deliberate driving animals over the top of downed animals. The next step is to implement objective numerical scoring of animal handling. The outcome measures that should be used are percentage of animals that fall, strike fences or gates, vocalise during restraint, are miscaught in the head stanchion or are moved with electric goads. Repeating these measurements over a period of time will make it possible to determine whether practices are improving or deteriorating. Further improvements in handling can be obtained with stockmanship training. Physiological measures of stress such as cortisol, lactate or glucose are useful for assessing handling methods because handling is a short-term stressor.

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Welfare measurements of finishing pigs on the day of slaughter: A review

Cited by 60 publications

References 78 publications

The effect of transport density and gender on skin temperature and carcass and meat quality in pigs

The effect of transport density and gender on skin temperature and carcass and meat quality in pigs

Pre-slaughter stress and pork quality

Livestock-handling assessments to improve the welfare of cattle, pigs and sheep

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