Abstract
Cattle production is an important economic activity worldwide. Its potential, however, is not fully maximized owing to disease conditions, some causing condemnation and wastage of edible organs at slaughter and a threat of zoonoses. This work aimed at establishing definitive causes of organ condemnation and financial losses in cattle from three slaughterhouses (Kaumara, Siaya, and Ugunja) in Siaya County, Kenya, through a cross-sectional study. Out of 112 cattle slaughtered, 75 (67%) had one or more organs condemned. Parasitic infestations [hepatic fasciolosis due to Fasciola infection 58 (51.8%), pimply guts/Oesophagostomiasis 28 (25%) and hepatic hydatidosis 1 (0.9%)], were major causes. Others were pulmonary blood aspiration from lack of stunning 2 (1.8%), inflammatory conditions [muscle abscess due to Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis infection 1 (0.9%)] and splenomegaly [from congestion 1 (0.9%) and hemosiderosis 1 (0.9%)], consequently, 198 kg of edible meat amounting to Kenya Shillings. 94,470 (US$. 935) was lost. The study demonstrated that controllable parasitic and bacterial conditions, as well as poor slaughtering techniques, caused condemnation of the organs, leading to loss of edible organs for consumers and heavy economic losses to livestock farmers and traders. Additionally, the occurrence of hepatic fasciolosis and hydatidosis suggested a possible zoonotic risk. Sensitization of cattle farmers on measures of controlling the conditions at farm level and slaughterhouse workers towards proper slaughter techniques is recommended. Further research using methods such as molecular techniques is needed to determine possible zoonotic transmission. Key words: Zoonotic conditions, post-mortem meat inspection, laboratory diagnosis, condemnation losses, Siaya County.
Highlights
There are more than 1.4 billion cattle around the world, generally kept for meat, milk and dairy products, hides, skins and for draught power (FAO, 2013)
Bacterial isolation results were consistent with E. coli and Streptococcus isolates from one lung sample and Corynebacterium isolates from the second sample
For the present study S. agalactiae isolated were considered contaminants during the slaughter process while C. pseudotuberculosis was taken as the main cause of the muscle abscess since it causes the condition in cattle as stated above
Summary
There are more than 1.4 billion cattle around the world, generally kept for meat, milk and dairy products, hides, skins and for draught power (FAO, 2013). Proper diagnosis of these conditions needs to be made to know the particular management route to undertake (OIE, 2018) This can be done through observation of clinical manifestations on live animals and gross examination at post mortem (OIE, 2018). This may give a rough indication of the suspected disease, but it is usually not confirmatory (Stockham and Scott, 2013). This study, concentrated on establishing the definitive cause (s) for organ condemnations in three slaughterhouses, namely: Kaumara, Siaya and Ugunja in Siaya County, Kenya, through pathological, bacteriological and parasitological laboratory techniques and quantifying the wasted edible organs and the respective financial losses incurred by the farmer
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