DETERMINING THE QUALITY OF BOVINE MEAT IN SARCOCYSTOSIS

Abstract

Sarcocystosis is recorded in 85 to 100% of cattle and sheep, 5 to 30% of pigs, and 35 to 55% of horses in the Russian Federation. However, the rules for veterinary and sanitary examination of animal carcasses do not prescribe to assess infection intensity of muscle tissue with sarcocysts. In this regard, it is necessary to assess the quality of bovine meat with different intensity of infection with cysts Sarcocystis spp. In order to perform biochemical studies, samples were taken from the cattle diaphragm with different indicators of the intensity of sarcocyst infection. The pH level of muscle tissue was determined, and a qualitative reaction to peroxidase and a sample with neutral formalin was applied. In 26 animals of different age, according to the results of the compressor research of muscle tissue, a high intensity of infection (II) with cysts Sarcocystis spp. was established for the diaphragm (24 to 905 micro- and macroscopic cysts), heart and esophageal muscle layer (24 to 258, and 22 to 907 cysts, respectively). The biochemical tests found that the meat product quality decreased with an increase in the intensity of Sarcocystis spp. infestation: when II was 1–17 cysts, the main quality indicators were within acceptable limits (pH 5.8–6.2, a formalin test negative, and a peroxidase test positive); when II was 171–907 cysts, the meat quality was poor (pH 6.3–7.2, a formalin test positive, a peroxidase test negative).