Loading...
Preliminary investigation into the development or acquisition of advanced digital post-mortem inspection systems for Irish abattoirs
Citations
Altmetric:
Keywords
Date
2024-04-30
Collections
Files
Research Projects
Organizational Units
Journal Issue
Citation
Duffy, G., Pinheiro, J., Boyle, L., Burgess, K., Gomes, C. Preliminary investigation into the development or acquisition of advanced digital post-mortem inspection systems for Irish abattoirs (2024). Teagasc
Abstract
Following animal slaughter, the Official Veterinarians (OV) conduct a post-mortem inspection (PMI) of the carcass. Traditional meat inspection (EU 854/2004) is based on visual inspection, palpation and incision to identify clinical illness or pathological lesions in the animal or bird presented for slaughter. However, it is recognised that many currently relevant food safety hazards (microbiological and chemical residues) are “invisible” to such traditional meat inspection methods and accordingly the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published Scientific Opinions in 2011, 2012 and 2013, which called for a modernisation of meat safety assurance systems. It was considered that palpation/incisions used in current PMI poses a risk of microbial cross-contamination and the EFSA Opinions called for improved Food Chain Information (FCI), enabling risk-differentiation of animals presented for slaughter, and for low risk animals, a move to visual only (VOI) carcass inspection, while maintaining a detailed inspection with incision and palpation on high risk animals. These recommendations were subsequently adopted into EU Regulations (218/2014; 2017/625; 2019/624; 2019/627). Additionally, an EFSA Scientific Opinion in 2022 recommended monitoring of tail lesions in pig carcasses at slaughter to monitor pig welfare and enable feedback to farmers.