Abstract
Surveillance at an abattoir allows all animals or carcasses that present a potential public health risk to be withdrawn from the human food chain. Whole-carcass condemnation results in important economic losses, not only for the producer but also for other participants in the meat industry. Access to the personal electronic database of an abattoir in France enabled us to run logistic regression models to investigate the risk factors for whole-carcass condemnation of end-cycle sows in that abattoir. When end-cycle sows that were slaughtered and eviscerated between 22 June 2015 and 8 December 2015 (185 days) were considered (n = 19,866), the results highlighted the importance of the total theoretical time off feed, which represents the fasting period from leaving the farm of origin to the time of slaughter (including transportation and waiting time at the abattoir). Each 10-h increase in the theoretical time off feed was associated with a 31% greater likelihood of whole-carcass condemnation [odd ratio (OR) = 1.31, CI 95% (1.27; 1.34)], and a 10 kg increase in carcass weight before refrigeration was associated with a 23% lower likelihood of carcass condemnation [OR = 0.77, CI 95% (0.75; 0.78)]. The results also indicate the importance of the producer group that the farmer belonged to (P < 0.01). A relatively small number of variables was available in the actual database to study the relevant risk factors for whole-carcass condemnation associated with or without diseases at the farm of origin. This derives partly from the fact that traceability at the abattoir in France is done per batch rather than individually for pigs; further, limited information is available at the farm level. An investigation of the reasons for whole-carcass condemnation could have been informative; however, it was not feasible in a reasonable timeframe because these data were not saved in a database in a systematic way. Some of the difficulties encountered in this study should soon be alleviated by using the meat inspection information system software for collecting livestock meat inspection data. Implemented recently by the French ministry of agriculture, this new tool should allow for broader perspectives in swine surveillance.
Highlights
Surveillance at an abattoir allows for all animals or carcasses that present a potential public health risk or that do not satisfy the minimal organoleptic quality requirements to be withdrawn from the human food chain [1]
Risk Factors for End-Cycle Sow Condemnation the use of such data for swine is the lack of data availability and heterogeneity, which depend on the system available in abattoirs both in France and internationally [3]
The odds of carcass condemnation were 30, 23, and 22% higher [odd ratio (OR) = 1.30, 1.23, and 1.22] for each extra 10 h of theatrical time off feed (Ttof), wta, and fpf, respectively
Summary
Surveillance at an abattoir allows for all animals or carcasses that present a potential public health risk or that do not satisfy the minimal organoleptic quality requirements to be withdrawn from the human food chain [1]. Studies that identify the risk factors for carcass condemnation based on slaughterhouse data exist for poultry [4, 5], small ruminants [6], cattle [7,8,9], and swine [10, 11] These studies enabled the geographical origin of the animals [12], time-related parameters [13, 14], the weights of carcasses [3, 15], and seasonality [11, 16, 17] to be identified as having a potential influence on whole-carcass condemnation. Information on this topic remains scarce, and when wholecarcass condemnation occurs, it results in important economic losses for both the producer and the other participants in the meat industry
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
