Evaluation of pig welfare in lairage and process hygiene in a single abattoir

Food safety is indirectly affected by the welfare of food animals, due to close links between animal welfare, animal health and food borne diseases. Stress factors and poor welfare can lead to increased susceptibility to disease among animals and may intensify the fecal shedding of food borne pathogens, e.g. Salmonella, Campylobacter, Yersinia, and human pathogenic STEC in the pre-slaughter phase: on-farm, in transport and in lairage. This study evaluated two aspects: a) assessment of pig welfare in abattoir lairage founded on animal-based categories, and b) the relationship between pig welfare and microbial process hygiene at slaughter. The results revealed that the animal-based category ‘manure on the body’ assessed in abattoir lairage corresponded with microbial process hygiene at slaughter

Assessment of biogenic amine production by lactic acid bacteria isolated from Serbian traditionally fermented foods

The aim of this study was to monitor the production of biogenic amines by 156 selected lactic acid bacteria (LAB) strains isolated from Serbian traditionally fermented sausages and cheeses. The method for the determination of biogenic amines is liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The measured concentrations of putrescine, cadaverine, tryptamine and spermidine (except in 13 LAB strains) were below the detection limit of the analytical method (0.1 mg/L), whereas those of histamine, tyramine and spermine were above the limit of detection, but still not significant. Tyramine was the only amine that had a measured concentration of 59.89 ± 0.06 mg L-1. Most of the tested LAB strains produced tyramine in broth below 26 mg L-1 with the exception of Enterococcus faecalis strains (59.89 ± 6.66 mg L-1) and Enterococcus faecium strains (47.33 ± 8.58 mg L-1). The low concentrations of biogenic amines are considered non-significant from both a technological and safety point of view.Publishe

Drivers, opportunities, and challenges of the European risk-based meat safety assurance system

The traditional meat safety system has significantly contributed to public health protection throughout the last century. However, it has been recognised that this system suffers many flaws ? the main being its limited ability to control the currently most important meat-borne hazards. The European Food Safety Authority evaluated meat inspection in the public health context, prioritised meat-borne hazards and proposed a generic framework for a new, risk-based meat safety assurance system. The proposed system aims to combine a range of preventive and control measures, applied at farms and abattoirs and integrated longitudinally, where official meat inspection is incorporated with producers? food safety management systems into a coherent whole. The modernisation process has recently started as a direct result of changes to relevant legislation in the European Union. Many challenges have been experienced while many opportunities are foreseen. More focus on targeted and risk-based inspection along the supply chain as well as use of new technologies may be a cost-effective and feasible way forward. Practical implementation of the system is expected to be a slow and careful process followed by thorough development, fine-tuning, and testing of practical feasibility and general impacts. Further progress that will lead to the full implementation is dependent on intensive research to fill knowledge gaps, enhance education and training and foster close collaboration of all the new system?s stakeholders

Antimicrobial resistance monitoring and surveillance in the meat chain: A report from five countries in the European Union and European Economic Area

Background The emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in zoonotic foodborne pathogens (Salmonella, Campylobacter) and indicator microorganisms (E. coli, enterococci) is a major public health risk. Zoonotic bacteria, resistant to antimicrobials, are of special concern because they might compromise the effective treatment of infections in humans. Scope and approach In this review, the AMR monitoring and surveillance programmes in five selected countries within European Union (EU) and European Economic Area (EEA) are described. The sampling schemes, susceptibility testing for AMR identification, clinical breakpoints (clinical resistance) and epidemiological cut-off values (microbiological resistance) were considered to reflect on the most important variations between and within food-producing animal species, between countries, and to identify the most effective approach to tackle and manage the antimicrobial resistance in the food chain. Key findings and conclusions The science-based monitoring of AMR should encompass the whole food chain, supported with public health surveillance and should be conducted in accordance with ‘Zoonoses Directive’ (99/2003/EC). Such approach encompasses the integrated AMR monitoring in food animals, food and humans in the whole food (meat) chain continuum, e.g. pre-harvest (on-farm), harvest (in abattoir) and post-harvest (at retail). The information on AMR in critically important antimicrobials (CIA) for human medicine should be of particular importance

Physicochemical and Functional Properties of Chicken Meat

AbstractThe physicochemical and functional properties of chicken meat under commercial processing in Serbia were studied. Samples (n = 48) of broiler breast and thigh muscles from two farms during 2012 were collected for subsequent meat quality analyses. The farm treatments modify significant growth performance, feed intake and the physicochemical properties of chicken meat. Fatty acid (FA) composition in tissues reflected the FA pattern of the diets, although the predominant FAs were monounsaturated FA (MUFA), in comparison to saturated FA (SFA) and polyunsaturated FA (PUFA). Therefore, our results suggest that quality of poultry meat is a complex and multivariate property

Biosecurity and Lairage Time versus Pork Meat Quality Traits in a Farm–Abattoir Continuum

The modern pig production chain is increasingly focused on biosecurity, quality, and safety of meat and is associated with many challenges impacting world meat markets, such as animal disease outbreaks and sanitary restrictions, trade regulations and quality requirements. To overcome such challenges and assure more consistent pork meat quality (and safety), there is a need to develop an effective and reliable monitoring system in a farm–abattoir continuum that can be based on selected biomarkers. This study assessed interrelations of selected stress and inflammation biomarkers (acute phase proteins (APP)) between farm biosecurity score versus pork meat quality traits after two different lairage periods. Briefly, the maximum recorded levels of stress hormones (436.2 and 241.2 ng/mL, for cortisol and Chromogranin A (CgA), respectively) and APP (389.4 and 400.9 μg/mL, Pig Major Acute Proteins (MAP) and Haptoglobin (Hp), respectively) at four commercial farms were within the recommended threshold values. Cortisol and APP were negatively correlated to the internal and total biosecurity scores of farms. The increase of level of both sets of biomarkers was found at bleeding (after transportation and lairage period), but with lower values after long (18–20 h) versus short (1–3 h) lairage lay-over time. In general, negative correlation was confirmed between stress and inflammation biomarkers and carcass/meat quality traits. The farm total biosecurity level significantly affected chilling yield, meat temperature, and a* value. Pig-MAP emerged as a good biomarker with a promising potential for assessment and anticipation of broad aspects in the pork meat chain. It can be used for detection of failures in the pig production system and might be incorporated in certification programs for the pork meat industry

Applications of computer vision systems for meat safety assurance in abattoirs: A systematic review

Introduction in 2017–2019 of the new EU legislation on official controls in food production allowed use of computer vision systems (CVSs) as complementary tools in meat inspection of bovines, pigs and poultry. A systematic literature review was performed to identify and analyse relevant articles reporting on the performances of CVSs used in abattoirs for ante- and post-mortem veterinary inspection and meat safety assurance, including systems for detecting carcass/organ contamination and lesions. In this review, 62 articles were identified and analysed. There were 35 articles reporting on CVS performance in the detection of carcass/organ lesions and 27 in the detection of carcass contamination. CVSs for broiler chicken, pig and bovine meat safety assurance were reported in 53, 5 and 4 articles, respectively. Not all developed CVSs were validated, and only three articles reported results from real-time evaluation of CVS performance in an abattoir vs performance of the official veterinarian. Most of the reported CVS performance measures (i.e., sensitivity and specificity) were >80%. A high specificity in detecting lesions and carcass contamination (i.e., a low number of false positives) is of importance for the food business operator in order to minimise food waste, whereas a high sensitivity (i.e., a low number of false negatives) is required for production of wholesome and safe meat. At present, the existing CVSs developed for overall meat safety assurance of broiler chicken carcasses and organs demonstrate very high sensitivities but suboptimal specificities, indicating the need for further CVS development and optimisation