Meat Inspection Flashcards
What is the goal of Risk Based Meat Inspection?
to reduce the burden of disease in the population
What are the 3 steps of Risk Based Meat Inspection?
Identify and evaluate foodborne disease risks
Develop risk management strategies
Measure effectiveness (Disease burden) and adjust as needed
What are the components for Food control for meat safety?
Food Law and Regulations Control management Inspection Services Laboratory Services Information, Education, Communication and Training
What is the role of Veterinary services (USDA-FSIS) in Meat Safety?
Management
On Farm Food Safety programs
Meat Inspection Programs
Certification of animal products for international trade
What are the Food Laws and Regulations?
Federal Meat Inspection Act
Poultry Products Act
Humane Slaughter of Animals Act
State Acts and Regs (for intra-state products)
What is included in the control management?
USDA-FSIS
State Depts of Health/Ag
What is included in inspection services?
USAD-FSIS
State Depts of Health/Ag
What are the objectives of Meat Inspection?
Protect public health
Consumer confidence
Surveillance for animal health problems
Improved access to international export markets
What does Federal Meat Inspection do?
Ensure that animals used for food products are free of foodborne pathogens
Clearly label foods that pass inspection
Minimized contamination during processing
Monitor for drug residues and pathogens
What are labeling requirements?
Everything must be labeled
Applies to carcasses parts of carcasses or containers/cans/pots containing meat
Must be readily visible
Labels may be stamps, paper labels, or tags
Inspector shall mark all inspected and passed , inspected for wholesomeness, and inspected and condemned
What are polyphosphates added to the meat for?
to mainain water holding properties
What are nitrates added to the meat for?
Preserves red color and are bacteriostatic
What is HACCP?
Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
A system for preventing contamination of food during processing
What does HACCP apply to?
Meat
Seafood
Juice processing facilities
Voluntary programs for other food products
Any step in the food production chain “farm to fork”
Steps to the 7 step Program?
Analyze Hazards
Identiiy critical control points
Establish preventative measures with critical limits for each control point
Establish corrective actions to be taken
Establish procedures to verify that the system is working
Establish effective recordkeeping to document the HACCP system
Federal Meat Inspection Act (FMIA)
Requires inspection of all meat sold from livestock
Foods must be: Sanitary, free of pathogens, not adulterated, properly labeled
Who does FMIA and Commerce have authority over?
Renderers, transporters, warehouses and animal food manufacturers
What are the standards for foreign importers?
Must have standards “equivalent” to US law or demonstrated equivalent risk
What are the exemptions to FMIA?
Slaughter of your own animals for consumption by self, family or guests - not for money
Retail dealers/stores that do not slaughter, with >75% of sales to retail customers
Individual who purchases meat or meat products outside the United States for his/her own consumption - not to exceed 50lbs.
What about meat from other species?
Do not fall under FMIA rules
What act is Poultry covered by?
Poultry Products Inspection Act (PPIA)
What is associated with Stress from Transportation?
Loss of meat quality, injuries to animals, animals may be condemned
Weight loss due to breakdown of fatty acids and muscular tissue and loss of water holding capacity
Pigs are vulnerable to suffocation
Bruising
Immune stress/microbial shedding
What are the two effects on meat from stress?
Dark Firm and Dry (DFD)
Pale Soft Exudative (PSE)
Dark Firm and Dry (DFD)
Darker color of meat
Firm Consistency
Seen in all livestock but more common in cattle
Pre-mortem depletion of glycogen
Downgrade of the carcass and passed for human consumption
Pale Soft Exudative (PSE)
Meat is moist and exudative
All livestock, but more common in swine
Post mortem depletion of muscle glycogen
Condemned at post mortem inspection
What is a normal post slaughter carcass change?
After slaughter metabolism continues in muscle cells causing a lower pH of muscle and tenderizes the meat
How do you reduce Dark Firm and Dry Meat?
Ensure adequate muscle glycogen (Proper feeding prior to transport)
Reduce glycogen consumption (Reduce stress)
Manage implants (cattle)
Porcine Stress Syndrome (PSS)
Heritable susceptibility to PSE - Recessive gene causing malignant hyperthermia
What is the USA Federal Rule on Antemortem Livestock Inspection?
All livestock offered for slaughter in an official establishment shall be examined and inspected on the day of and before slaughter
What is the purpose of Antemortem Inspection of Livestock?
Inspection of individual live animals prior to slaughter
Helps keep ill animals out of the food chain
Helps reduce contamination of abattoir
What is the inspection procedure?
Observe animals at rest
Observe animals in motion from one or both sides
Determine if animal is normal or abnormal
Suspect & condemn animals must be ear tagged as such
Disposition
Handling of a carcass or its parts according to currect regulations
Subject to Inspection
Animal is bought by plant operator, subject to passing inspection. Seller is only paaid for those parts passing inspection
Passed for slaughter
Determined to be fit for human food
Suspect Animal
Animal suspected of having diseases or conditions that would make part or all of the carcass unfit for food
Detailed post mortem inspection needed
Condemned Animal
Clearly exhibit disease or conditions that make them unfit for human food
Must be destroyed & not slaughtered for food.
Dead, dying, disabled, or diseased livestock are condemned
What are the 4 D’s of condemnation
Dead
Dying
Disabled
Diseased
What the systemic infections that result in condemnation?
Anaplasmosis Leptospirosis Listeriosis Multiple Abscesses Pseudorabies Tetanus Rabies Septicemia
What are the systemic metabolic conditions that result in condemnation?
Ketosis
Parturient paresis
When would you hold an animal for possible recovery before slaughter?
Post-parturient - until placenta passes
What are the rules about Downer Cattle?
Prohibits the slaughter of cattle that are not able to stand or walk
Higher probability of BSE
If an animal is branded with a “T” on the left hip, what does that mean?
Reacted to the TB skin test
Suspect
Extra postmortem inspection required
May be passed for COOKING only
If an animal is branded with a “B” on the left hip, what does that mean?
Positive for Brucellosis
Must be sent to slaughter within 15 days
Meat is considered safe if from cattle and pigs
Goats are not slaughtered - Destroyed!
Meat inspection provides what of animal disease?
Surveillance
What are the 2 steps in slaughter?
- Stunning
2. Exsanguination
Human Handling and Slaughter of Livestock Directive:
Livestock must be rendered insensible to pain before being shackled, hoisted, or cut
What is the exception to Humane Handling and Slaughter of Livestock Directive?
Ritual Slaughter (Halal or Kosher)
How are animals slaughtered for ritual slaughter?
Killed directly by exsanguination
Animals neck is severed with a surgically sharp knife
Animals for slaughter must be healthy and uninjured at the time of death
Only exempt for the “stun before sticking” law
What are the 4 approved methods of stunning?
Carbon Dioxide
Electricity
Captive Bolt
Firearms
Electricity stunning
Current through the brain sufficient to generate an epileptic seizure/stun animal
Acceptable to stun the brain and then use second electrical pulse to induce cardiac arrest
What is a consequence of electric stunning?
may cause petechial hemorrhage
What is carbon dioxide used for besides slaughter?
Depopulation
What are the two types of Captive Bolt?
Penetrating
Non penetrating
What is penetrating captive bolt?
Bolt enters cranium/brain
What is non-penetrating captive bolt?
Causes concussion, less brain contamination
Preferred by most plants
What is the consequence of using a gunshot for slaughter?
Head and brain are not suitable for food
Emergence and ricochet are possible
Shackling
Hanging from shackle
Shackle
Hook on overhead rail
Chest Sticking
cut the vessels where they arise from the heart
What is a common source of meat contamination from soil on hide, rumen contents, and feces
Dressing of the carcass
Organoleptic Inspection
Detecting disease, abnormalities and contamination involving your senses: Sight, Feel, Smell, Hearing
How is sight involved in inspection?
observing a diseased lesion
How is feeling involved in inspection?
Palpating an abnormal lump in tissues, feeling abnormal firmness in an organ
How is smell involved in inspection?
Smelling the urine odor of uremia
Smelling the contents of a broken abscess
How is hearing involved in inspection?
Listening to a carcass fall off the line on to the floor
What are the three parts to post mortem inspection?
Head inspection
Carcass Inspection
Viscera Inspection
What is involved with the head inspection?
Slice and Inspect the masseter muscle for cysticercosis and eosinophilic myosistis
Incise the lymph nodes for swelling and abscesses
Palpate the tongue for wooden tongue or eosinophilic myositis
Also look for Lumpy Jaw and Cancer eye
What is involved with the viscera inspection?
Cut into the left ventricle for pericarditis, cysticerosis, endocarditis
Palpate and incise 3 mediastinal nodes and tracheobronchial nodes for pleuritis, pneumonia and TB
Incise the hepatic nodes and open the bile ducts for ascards, liver flukes, abscesses, cirrhosis, hydatid cysts and fatty liver
Digestive tract for parasites, icterus - but SHOULD NOT BE OPENED!
Incise the mesenteric lymph node for TB and septicemia
Palpate rumino-reticular junction for hardware
Observe all other organs
What is involved with the carcass inspection?
observe back, sides, pleura, peritoneum, cut surfaces of carcass, and neck muscles
Palpate internal iliac and superficial inguinal or supramammary lymph nodes
Observe and palpate kidneys
Observe and palpate diaphragm
Adulterated
Including an added, foreign or interior substance that cannot be removed by trimming
Contaminated
Having materials on the surface - dirty, stained, infected - that cannot be removed by trimming
Inedible
Parts are not normally considered edible
Passed
Acceptable for use as human food
Condemned
NOT to be used for human food, must be destroyed by rendering incineration
Sometimes ok for pet food
Hold
Hold carcass pending further lab tests
Restricted
Can be used for human food with restrictions: only if heated, cooked, refrigerated for several days, or added to a comminuted product
Specific Risk Materials
Inedible based upon risk of BSE transmission to humans
What parts are considered Specific Risk Materials (SRM)?
Tonsils and Distal Ileum of all ages
Brain, Skull, eyes, trigeminal ganglia, spinal cord, vertebral column and dorsal root ganglia of animals >30 months
Generally unfit for food if carcass contains….
Infectious agent or toxins Morbid tissue Discolored tissue Abnormalities involving several organs Evidence of abnormal systemic physiological stated
When is trimming permitted?
when there is local involvement with disease NOT transmissible to humans
What specific conditions result in liver condemnation?
Abscesses Fasciolosis Cirrhosis Hydatid Cyst Contamination with dirt or feces
What happens to a carcass with Tuberculosis active, extensive or multiple tissue lesions?
The entire carcass is condemned
What happens to a a carcass if the Tuberculosis lesions are localized and encapsulated/calcified?
The lesions are trimmed and the remainder of the carcass must be cooked!
What happens to a carcass with localized Taenia solium lesions?
Trim + Restricted
What happens to a carcass with generalized Taenia Solium lesions?
Condemned
What is the leading cause of post mortem condemnation?
Epithelioma (Squamous Cell Carcinoma)
What is the fate of a carcass with malignant neoplasia?
Condemn
What is the fate of a swine carcass with benign embryonal nephroma?
Trim affected parts
What are other common findings?
Pigmentation changes/discoloration
Bruises and skin conditions
Emaciation
Poultry Products Inspection Act
Requires inspection of poultry and poultry products
Poultry
any domesticated bird whether alive or dead
PPI Exemptions
Slaughter and processing for personal use
Retail dealers that only cut up chicken carcasses into parts and sell to consumers
Farmers who raise
Transportation increases…
fecal excretion of salmonella
How are poultry inspected?
As “lots” - all of the birds from one poultry house on one farm
What happens to birds arriving dead
Condemned
What happens to suspect birds?
Segregated and slaughtered separately
Examples of bad practices that result in condemnation of poultry carcasses
Bird dies before slaughter Evidence of bruising or other injuries Bird was not bled out or was breathing when scalded Carcass was overscalded Carcass is visibly contaminated
What other condition of poultry results in condemnation?
Septicemia
What are poultry specific disease that must be inspected for?
Chlamydia psittaci
Mycobacterium avium
Leukosis complex
Airsacculitis
What happens to a poultry carcass that is contaminated?
Trimmed and washed with chlorinated water
otherwise Condemned
