Slaughtering process in different countries

There are many slaughter methods prevalent throughout the world are administered either by religions or cultures. This paper reviews the relevant aspects of ritual and traditional slaughter methods in different countries around the world. Ritualistic or religious slaughter often requires the animal to be in a state of consciousness at the time it is bled. According to the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (JAKIM) halal slaughtering process of an animal involves restraining, stunning (if used) and severing of trachea, esophagus and both the carotid arteries and jugular veins. In Shariah law, slaughtering is not a normal matter in which humans act independently as they wish,but it is rather a matter of worship which Muslims must adhere by in its provisions. It is important for scientists to understand that the main reason for the observance of the Islamic faith is to follow the Divine Orders. “Kosher” is the term applied to the procedures and techniques of slaughter as well as the products derived therefrom under the Jewish faith, if done according to the laws of the religion. In the Hebrew language, Kosher means fit to be used as food. The regulations governing Kosher slaughter are derived from Hebrew traditions. Under these the animals are to be fully conscious, killed and blend thoroughly by one clean stroke of the knife. Sikh Slaughter (Jhakta) process is practised mainly under Sikhism, a religious faith which is an offshoot of Hinduism centred in the Punjab, India. The method is limited only to sheep and goats (Cattle are regarded as sacred by Sikhs and Hindus and are therefore not eaten). In the process, the head of the animal is tied to a pole, the hind legs are stretched out and tied by hand to another pole on the opposite side. The head is chopped off with a single stroke of a heavy sharp blade. After this, the animal body is dressed for use. Slaughter process practicing in USA, Europe and China is that the stunned animals must be hanging by shackling below the hock of one hind leg and hoisting the animal (head down) before bleeding. The actual bleeding operation is made by sticking or inserting the sticking knife through the neck behind the jaw bone and below the first neck bone to let out blood. The noticeable feature of African traditional slaughter is that the sheep or goat is first securely held on its back on the ground by two or three men while the mouth is grabbed tight and drawn backwards to stretch the neck. The slaughterer then cuts the throat with a series of strokes half-way deep into the neck. Blood is allowed to drain off until the animal (still tightly held) is motionless or dies. Ritualistic slaughter procedure cannot change but may be modified, yet the other procedures mostly which is practiced in the developed countries can changed

Meat quality and lipid oxidation of infraspinatus muscle and blood plasma of goats under dietary supplementation of herbal antioxidants.

This study investigated the effect of different antioxidants of dietary supplementation with Andrographis paniculata, turmeric and α-tocopherol on lipid and color stability of Infraspinatous (IS) kacang crossbred goat kids muscle. Four treatments of eight animals each were randomly selected consisting of Control (CN), 400 mg kg-1 Vitamin E (VE), 0.5% kg-1 DMI Turmeric (TU) and 0.5% kg-1 DMI Andrographis paniculata (AP). After 100 days feeding period, goats were slaughtered and infraspinatous muscle was sampled. The muscle was vacuum-packaged and displayed for 0, 7 and 14 days in a chiller at 3-4°C. Percent of drip loss in the IS muscle were not significantly different among of dietary supplementation antioxidants (VE, TU and AP) with CN. Period of display did not affect (p>0.05) drip loss in IS muscle. Percent of cooking loss in the IS muscle were different among of dietary supplementation antioxidants (VE, TU and AP) and AP supplemented diet only decreased significantly (p0.05). TBARS value high significantly increased in aging time at 14 days (p<0.01). Dietary antioxidants supplementation and sampling periods of blood plasma decreased (p<0.05) TBARS value of blood plasma of goats. In conclusion, feeding herbal antioxidants supplementation of male goat kids resulted in a general improvement of blood plasma and IS muscle oxidative stability as compared to feeding a control diet. Meat color deterioration, measured as changes of color descriptors aging (over) time was less pronounced in IS muscle from animals fed herbs (TU and AP) and VE diets than in IS muscle from CN-fed goats

Characterization of bovine calpastatin gene in Nelore cattle using polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragment length polymorphisms

Problem statement: In beef cattle production, of meat quality and carcass traits are important. Traditionally beef cattle breeding programs unfortunately are time consuming and also recording of carcass and growth traits need heavy cost, Approach: Marker Assisted Selection (MAS) should be utilized in beef herds, along with economically important phenotypic traits, for genetic progress to made with respect to improving the uniformity and consistency of beef. Blood samples were collected from 41 nelor cattle in Malaysia. Forward and reversed primers amplified a 1552 bp fragment from calpastatin gene. XmnI enzyme was used for restriction analysis of PCR products. Result: Overall, the frequency of alleles A and B in the studied breeds were estimated as 0.42 and 0.58, respectively. In this study we calculated genotype frequency AA, AB and BB 12.2, 58.53 and 29.27% respectively and also observed heterozygosity, expected heterozygosity and average value of heterozygosity were 0.58, 0.49 and 0.48 respectively. Highest frequency of allele was B (0.58) and lowest was A (0.42) This Nelor cattle population was in the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium. Conclusion: Perhaps, this molecular genetic information helps breeders for designing the proper genetic selection program in the development direction of this breed

Effects of varying levels of L-leucine and metabolizable energy in finisher diet on carcass composition and meat sensory characteristics of broiler chickens

A study was conducted to evaluate the effects of leucine supplementation in grower-finisher diets containing varying levels of energy on the sensory characteristics and carcass composition of broiler chickens. In a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, eighty 21-day old Cobb broiler chicks were divided into 16 groups and fed diets supplemented with 0 or 0.5 % L-leucine and metabolizable energy (ME) concentration at either 3200 kcal/kg or 3000 kcal/kg, for three weeks. Feed intake, growth performance and feed conversion ration were determined on a weekly basis. At the end of the trial, the birds were slaughtered, carcass composition determined and meat samples taken for sensory evaluation. There was no interaction between level of L-leucine and ME on the sensory characteristics and carcass composition at 42 days. Dietary level of L-leucine and ME had no significant effect (P>0.05) on the live-weight, breast meat, lean, bone, fat and skin. Similarly, the flavour, tenderness, aroma, juiciness and overall acceptability scores of breast meat of broiler fed diets supplemented with leucine were also not significantly different. Further research is needed to evaluate the potential impact of excess leucine in diets with reduced levels of crude protein

Effect of dietary crude palm oil on quality and oxidative stability of chicken eggs

The experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of different levels of dietary crude palm oil (CPO) on quality characteristics and oxidative stability of chicken eggs. A total of ninety six ISA Brown hens was assigned randomly into four dietary treatments containing 0 (control), 1.5, 3 and 5% CPO with four replications pre-treatment. Experimental diets were iso-nitrogenous and iso-calorie. Eggs were collected daily analysed for its quality characteristics and lipid peroxidation. Yolk colour and oxidative stability were markedly improved (p<0.05) with corresponding increased CPO in the diets. On the basis of this study it may be concluded that dietary CPO reduced lipid peroxidation in egg yolk without affecting egg quality characteristics

Effects of dietary antioxidants on the quality, fatty acid profile, and lipid oxidation of longissimus muscle in Kacang goat with aging time.

Thirty-two male goats were randomly assigned to four dietary treatments namely, basal diet 70% concentrate and 30% oil palm fronds (control, CN), CN + 400 mg/kg vitamin E (VE), 0.5% turmeric (TU) or 0.5% Anderographis paniculata (AP). After 100 days of feeding, the goats were slaughtered and longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle was sampled. The muscle was vacuum-packaged and conditioned for 0, 7 and 14 days in a chiller (4 °C). The drip loss of the LD muscle increased (P < 0.05) with aging time. Meat tenderness was improved (p < 0.05) at 14 days aging. All antioxidant supplements improved (P < 0.05) colour of the meat. The TBARS value increased (P < 0.05) at 7 days of aging while the fatty acid composition was not affected by the dietary supplements. It is concluded that TU and AP are potential dietary antioxidant supplements, for the purpose of improving the quality of chevon

The effects of the hot, humid tropical climate and early age feed restriction on stress and fear responses, and performance in broiler chickens

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of two types of housing systems and early age feed restriction on stress and fear reactions, and performance in broiler chickens raised in a hot, humid tropical climate. On day 1, chicks were housed either in windowless environmentally controlled chambers (temperature was set at 32°C on day 1 and gradually reduced to 23°C by day 21) or in conventional open-sided houses (OH) with cyclic temperatures (minimum, 24°C; maximum, 34°C). An equal number of chicks from each housing system was subjected to either ad libitum feeding (AL) or 60% feed restriction on day 4, 5 and 6 (FR). The CH birds showed greater weight gain, higher feed consumption and better feed conversion ratios (FCR) than their OH counterparts. Feeding regimen had negligible effect on overall performance. Neither housing nor feeding regimen had a significant (p<0.05) effect on mortality rate. Although the CH birds were less stressed, as measured by plasma corticosterone concentration (CORT), than those of OH, the former showed longer TI duration suggesting higher magnitude of underlying fearfulness. A significant (p<0.05) effect of housing on heterophil/lymphocyte ratios was only noted among the AL birds where the CH birds had higher values than OH. Collectively, these results suggest that although OH birds had poorer performance and higher level of stress than CH, the former were less fearful. Although FR had negligible effect on growth performance, the regimen alleviated both stress and fear reactions in broilers

Effects of dietary herbal antioxidants supplemented on feedlot growth performance and carcass composition of male goats

Problem statement: In goats production, chevon, meat quality and shelf life are very important, dietary herbs and synthetic antioxidants as dietary supplementation, may be can improve growth performance and carcass characteristics of goats. Approach: Thirty-two male (mean live weight 13.0 kg and 8 months old) were assigned to four dietary treatments, namely, basal diet (control, CN) and basal diet supplemented with Vitamin E (VE), Turmeric powder (TU) or Andrographis paniculata Powder (AP). The diets were fed as total mixed rations ad libitum for a period of 14 weeks. The goats were weighed every month, while feed intake was measured on a weekly basis. Thereafter, the goats were subjected to the Halal slaughter and the carcasses dissected. Result: The daily weight gain was not different (p>0.05) between treatments, but the feed intake was lower (p<0.05) for the AP treatment than for the TU treatment, while the gain: DM intake was lower (p<0.05) for the CN treatment than for the AP treatment. The percentage of total meat in the carcass and the longissimus muscle cut were higher (p<0.05) for the AP treatment than for the CN treatment. Conclusion: It was concluded that dietary antioxidants from natural herbs such as Andrographis paniculata have the potential to improve feed efficiency, increased lean meat and reduced body internal fat in the carcass of goats. Addition of TU increased Average Daily Gain (ADG) and feed intake

Investigative baseline reference on the status of pork pH, shear force, colour, drip and cooking loss in RYR1 mutation free, commercial 3-way crosses in Malaysia

This paper attempts to provide findings of an investigative study on the baseline status of the pork quality in Malaysia. With consumer preferences changing towards the selection of good quality meat for consumption, there is a need to establish an investigative reference for the operators in the industry to gauge the performance of their animals and pork quality. This is also important to increase the competitiveness among producers to continuously improve the pork quality available to consumers. In this study, 30 commercial three-way crossed female pigs were randomly selected from government accredited abattoirs from east and west Malaysia and longisimus dorsi were collected for the determination of pH, drip loss, cooking loss, shear force and colour. All animals were screened for the RYR1 gene and the results were then compiled with statistical analysis to obtain an investigative baseline pork quality data in Malaysia. The average pork quality obtained from this study falls within the category of Red, Soft and Exudative (RSE), with an average ultimate pH of 5.83, drip loss more than 5% and L* values at 45.94. We have proposed an investigative baseline meat quality data for Malaysian pork from the average commercial pork quality data obtained. The proposed investigative pork quality baseline data in Malaysian is comparable in terms of studies done in other established countries and/or with international standards and falls within the RSE category of acceptable quality. It provides an investigative benchmark for researchers and end-producers to judge the quality of pork in an objective manner, both for consumption and for export purpose. Moreover, continuous selection against the RYR1 gene has successfully removed the gene from the sample size above, but constant random monitoring is still advisable if farms aim to ensure the elimination of this gene from their herd

Inhibitory property of metabolite combinations produced from Lactobacillus plantarum strains

The inhibitory property of metabolite combinations produced from six different strains of Lactobacillus plantarum were evaluated in this study. The final pH of culture media and cell population of each strain were determined and the antimicrobial activity of the metabolite from individual strains and combinations were conducted against Pediococcus acidilactici as indicator microorganism. The lowest pH was observed in the media which were cultured with L. plantarum RG11 and RG14 (P < 0.05), while the highest cell population was found in L. plantarum RI11 and RG11. There was no significant difference in the inhibitory activity among the six individual strains. However, when the three strains of L. plantarum were combined, the combination of strains (TL1-RI11-RG11, strains RS5-RI11-RG11 and strains RI11-RG14-RG11) showed a higher level of inhibition. The metabolite combinations from L. plantarum strains could be potential pathogen inhibition compound in the food and feed industry