PubMed · 3716099
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1986-04-05. Deer slaughter.. https://doi.org/10.1136/vr.118.14.406
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OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the potential food safety risks constituted by recumbent cattle that are slaughtered for edible beef. DESIGN: Prospective case series. ANIMALS: Thirty cattle in recumbency that passed a routine antemortem inspection at a US federally inspected abattoir. PROCEDURE: Aerobic, bacteriologic culture of blood samples taken immediately prior to slaughter and of spleens taken during viscera inspection. Gross lesions were recorded, and samples of liver, lung, kidney, and heart were collected from each animal for routine light microscopic examination. RESULTS: Bacteremia caused by Salmonella dublin was documented in 1 cow that had arthritis. Two other cows were condemned after postmortem inspection: 1 because of pneumonia and pleuritis and the other because of vegetative endocarditis. Three carcasses were retained and later condemned because of antibiotic residues in tissues; 1 of these cows had mastitis, 1 had liver abscesses, and 1 was the cow with vegetative endocarditis. Sarcocystosis was found in 27 of 30 hearts, but other clinically important histologic lesions were observed only in liver samples. In 11 of the 30 cows, multifocal, microscopic foci of hepatitis were observed, suggesting that terminal embolic bacterial showering of the liver had occurred in these animals. Liver samples were not submitted for bacteriologic culture. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Most recumbent cows slaughtered for edible beef are not contaminated by bacteria; however, the viscera from these animals may present a food safety danger. Efforts should be made to develop rapid tests to identify bacteremic animals at slaughter and to more fully evaluate terminal showering of viscera by bacteria in cattle at slaughter.
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The effect of washing on the bacterial contamination of beef carcasses in a modern abattoir was evaluated. Twenty-six carcasses were evaluated at the end of the slaughter process before and after washing, and 13 other carcasses were evaluated only after being washed. An excision sample (5 x 5 x 0.5 cm) was collected from 10 sites on each carcass immediately before washing and at an adjacent site immediately after washing. Aerobic bacterial colonies were enumerated, using hydrophobic grid membrane filter technology. After washing, the log10 of the most probable number of growth units/cm2 decreased (P < 0.01) at the lateral rump site, increased (P < 0.01) at the thorax and neck sites, but was unchanged at the other 7 sites, compared with before washing. The sample size required to estimate, within 0.5 log10 units, the mean log10 most probable number of growth units/cm2 at a site for use in future group-carcass evaluations was determined and compared with a previously used sample size definition. It was concluded that the washing process described did not result in a major change in the bacterial contamination of carcasses.