Meat Inspection and Grading (Final) Flashcards
What are the roles of FSIS and other federal agencies in assuring animal welfare and meat wholesomeness and safety?
Responsibilities: establish rules to improve meat harvesting
Facilities construction & operational sanitation.
Humane handling
Ass plants adopt & use HACCP.
Ass SSOPs practiced by personnel.
Antemortem & postmortem inspections.
Vet disposition
Regulatory medicine- disease doesn’t enter food supply.
Confirm HACCP system effectiveness.
Oversight of plant protocols for E Coli testing.
Product inspection.
Disease surveillance.
Lab determinations & assays.
Control & restriction of condemned products.
Marking, labeling & inspecting insignia.
International trade.
Roles of FSIS Food Inspectors
Food inspectors (FI) = trained to understand what is normal or not normal tissues.
On the line- detailed looking.
Inspect every animal individually.
GOAL: determine who is sick. Pass- all animals that look normal. Retain – sick animals for vets to look.
Roles of FSIS Consumer Safety Inspector
Consumer Safety Inspector (CSI) = oversee other parts of HAACP.
Off the line.
Conduct sanitation audits through facilities.
Check HACCP/microbiological records.
Roles of FSIS Veterinarians
Supervision/carcass dispositions
Define “sick”/abnormal tissue = problem, many rules involved.
Single abscess (condemn part) vs toxic carcass (dispose).
Determine severity of sickness – acute vs chronic, localized vs systematic.
BOTH help vet determine how well immune system working.
Understand if: (1) carcass pass for edible food, (2) condemn but ok for pet food (3) condemn- unsalvageable – rendering.
Look at entire process & make final decisions on carcass.
Roles of FSIS Supervisory Consumer Safety Inspectors
HR and management of people
Describe the process of USDA inspection of animals and their products at slaughter.
UNDER SUPERVISION OF A VET:
Incise/examine 2 each of parts of body that would demonstrate systemic disease.
I/E external & internal masseter muscles for parasites.
I/E anterior, middle, posterior lungs for resp sys infection.
E ext & int surfaces of heart.
I/E liver.
E intestines, lymph nodes, spleen.
E exposed surfaces of carcass & lining- kidneys for evidence of infection.
Look at entirety of carcass to detect fecal contamination or ingesta.
Pass all of this = safe. Don’t pass = retained to pass or rejected by vet.
What are typical reasons for condemnation of animal tissues or whole carcasses?
Abnormal looking organs or tissue.
Fed steer & heifers = liver abscess & lungs
Cull cow & bulls = arthritic joints & liver (increased over years- abscesses).
CONDEMNED CARCASSES: only vet can condemn entire red meat carcass (beef, lambs, goats, hogs).
CONDEMN PARTS: food inspectors.
CONDEMN POULTRY: FI or vet.
REASON FOR CONDEMNATION: infection, inflammation, neoplasia, trauma…
Describe the role of HACCP in food wholesomeness and safety processes?
HACCP created in 1996.
PRIOR: FSIS told producers how going to produce safe food.
AFTER: producers told FSIS how they were going to produce safe food & FSIS confirms that companies is producing safe food.
How is a HACCP plan for a facility developed?
PLAN: on how a company is going to produce safe food.
Step by step process.
Measurements along the way to confirm process control (critical control points).
Corrections instituted if process is not in control.
Documentation (records) to show what was done.
Supporting documentation – why process result in safe food production.
How is a HACCP plan overseen?
FSIS observes company’s HACCP procedures company do throughout process/plans (measuring temp, checking antimicrobial app).
FSIS verifies HACCP records.
What kind of disease processes are identified by the traditional meat inspection process?
DISEASE SURVEILLANCE: disease of Public Health Significance:
Reportable diseases: avian flu, TB, foot & mouth disease, VS.
Send in sample found in slaughter = sent to NVSL to test disease.
Depopulation programs: brucellosis, TB exposed.
How can you identify that a carcass has passed FSIS inspection?
Meat sold in US must be USDA inspected = USDA Bug = stamp of approval.
Exceptions:
Retail Markets- building dedicated to sell meat produced in house to public that walk in.
State Inspection- sold within state boundaries.
Custom Exempt (“not for sale”)- own animal, send to slaughter & package it, eat it.
Describe carcass grading – how does it differ from inspection? What does it accomplish? How is it performed? What are the different quality grades? What do yield grades tell you?
Grading vs inspection:
Inspection Bugs = meet federal inspection & considered safe to eat (most retail meat is USDA inspected).
Quality Bugs = not mandated, quality of meat, not all meat will have the same quality bug- depends on meat features.
Grading = determine value (high or low) of product depending on features (muscle:fat ratios, cut, muscle).
Prime, Choice, Select.
Increase production in these products due to consumer demand.
US Quality Grades: multiple traits of the meat:
Sex class (heifer vs steer).
Maturity= bone ossification, muscle mass – more when young than older.
Marbling = most observed by consumer- related to amount of intramuscular fat (taste).
Firmness
Describe the “fabrication” and processing of meat products.
Conversion of carcasses to cuts using standard cutting methods that evolved from 5 basic principles that call for separation of:
FAT FROM LEAN – from outside of carcass.
TOUGH FROM TENDER
THICK FROM THIN
VALUABLE FROM LESS – customer demand/desire.
ACROSS THE GRAIN – perpendicular to longitudinal orientation of muscle fibers = easier to chew.
What is the difference between ‘safety’ and ‘quality/wholesomeness’?
QUALITY/WHOLESOMENESS: observable features consumer looking for (internal fat, no lesions…).
SAFETY: food is safe to consume whether it has unwholesome features or different qualities consumers are looking for.
Interrelated but can have safe food but poor quality.
