Abstract
Many cases of food-borne illness in the UK are related to the consumption of contaminated meat products. This has highlighted the importance of adopting hygienic procedures throughout the meat production chain, including the farm environment (Pennington, 2000). Many factors are known to affect the hygienic condition of finished cattle (Davies et al., 2000) and various husbandry practices may be used to improve cleanliness at slaughter. Feed withdrawal, for example, may be used to reduce faecal output and improve the visible cleanliness of hides. However, the extent to which this impacts upon microbiological contamination of the hide, and its effects on pathogen levels following transport to the abattoir remain to be determined. This study investigated the interactive effects of feeding a straw-only diet prior to transport and journey time on the microbiological status of cattle faeces and hides.
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