Ph7-8: Slaughter Design and Slaughter Process Flashcards
Define abattoir.
Slaughterhouse
Establishment used for slaughtering and dressing animals, the meat of which is intended for human consumption
What is a livestock unit?
One adult bovine and equidae = 1 LU
Other bovine animals = 0.5 LU
Pigs over 100kg = 0.2 LU
Other pigs = 0.15 LU
Sheep and Goats = 0.10 LU
What is the regulatory body for the meat industry?
Food Standards Agency/ Food Standards Scotland
What is the role of the FSA?
- Delivers official controls in approved meat premises to help the industry produce meat in a hygienic manner that is safe for human consumption
- To safeguard animal welfare in slaughterhouses
- To assist other agencies like APHA in the control of NDs or Local Authority in delivering official controls
- Has the responsibility for labelling policy in Scotland, Wales, and Nothern Ireland, and for nutrition policy in Scotland and Northern Ireland
What are the two types of FSA reps? What are their roles?
Veterinary Managers
- Perform an approval visits and follow up audits
- Investigate food incidents
- Provide tech support to vet auditors
Veterinary Auditors
- Carry official audits and follow up visiting in cutting plants and abattoirs
- Carry unannounced audits at the same premises (risk-based)
What is the role of the OV in the abattoir?
- Carry ante-mortem inspection
- Responsible for verifying hygienic operations in abattoirs at all times and enforce legislation on risk-based and consistency issues
- Provide technical support to meat hygiene inspectors
- Liaise with government reps on welfare and ND (notifiable disease)
- Assess and follow up on data collected at the abattoir
What is the role of the meat hygiene inspectors?
- Perform post-mortem inspection on carcasses and offal
- Carry animal identification checks at PM
- Assess animal welfare based on carcase condition
- Observe FBO reps to assess their diligence
- Correct collection of ABP (animal by-product)
- Report an issues to the OV
What do the livestock go through on the farm immediately prior to transport?
- Bringing livestock indoors onto clean dry bedding
- Fed high dry matter diets to produce cleaner animals (gradually to reduce chance of scour)
- Withdrawal of feed prior to transport to decrease gut-fill and reduce overall faecal contamination
- Clip to remove gross contamination from the underside
What are the regulations regarding transportation of livestock from farm to abattoir?
- Vehicles must be cleaned and disinfected between loads
- Vehicles should be well ventilated
- Animals must be dry at loading and kept dry until arrival
- Animals should be protected from adverse weather conditions during loading and unloading
- Correct overall stocking rates
- Appropriate group sizes of uniform animals should be used
Where are the critical areas of contamination on the animal that are likely to result in rejection for slaughter?
- Brisket and abdomen
- Flank
- Hock
- Neck
- Rectal area
What are the categories of cleanliness?
Category 1: clean and dry
Category 2: light contamination
Category 3: dirty
Category 4: very dirty
Category 5: filthy and wet
What happens with dirty animals?
Dirty animals can be:
- Retained in lairage on clean bedding till clean/dry
- Clipped to remove contaminated wool/hair
- Slaughtered with decreased line speed and/or last on the day
- Killed in lairage and carcase disposed
THEY CANNOT BE SENT BACK TO THE FARM OF ORIGIN
What are the design requirements for the lairage with regards to location and overall structure?
- Acces to mains water and electricity supply
- Proximity to main roads; access to large, small vehicles, and parking
- Proximity to skilled labour
- Remoteness from local housing (noise and smell)
- Freedom from pollution from other industries
- Ground not prone to flooding
- Sufficient size for future expansion
What are the design requirements for the lairage with regards to the animals?
Pens
- Constructed of solid, resistant material
- Not protrusions that can injure
- Non-slip flooring, easily cleaned
Fitted with water and drinking facilities of sufficient size
- Adequate capacity for the throughput
- The stocking density, date and time of arrival must be recorded on each pen
- Enough space to turn, lie, access to food and water
Well ventilated
Isolation pen
- For sick/suspect animals
- Close to unloading bay
- With separate drainage
- Prepared and kept ready to immediate use
How should animals be grouped in pens in the lairage?
- Accommodated on peer groups to avoid fear, fighting, and injuries
- Largely horned cattle must be hosted individually
- Lactating cattle MUST NOT spend more than 12 hours in the lairage
- Different species should not be mixed
Describe how “the race” should be designed.
- Usually, a narrow single-file to prevent animal by-passing
- High to prevent jumping
- Stop gate to prevent backward movement
- Fitted with emergency exit gate
Describe the floors in the food handling rooms.
They should be:
- Waterproof, washable, and in sound condition
- Non-slip without compromising hygiene
- Drains able to handle fat, blood, large quantities of waste water
- DRainage channels with removable grating for cleaning and flow away from product to prevent cross-contamination and contain traps to collect sediment
What are the two different types of sticking techniques?
1 or 2 knives
Two knife technique: one to cut skin and second to cut blood vessels
How is hygiene considered in the sticking technique?
- Pigs: single incision with a small stick to reduce contamination from the scald tank
- Clean and sterilize knife for each animal (washed before placing in sterilizer)
- Stick wound is trimmed to remove contamination
- Do not cut oesophagus
How much time should pass between bleeding and dressing?
Cattle: at least 30 seconds
Other: at least 20 seconds
What are the main factors that influence optimal bleeding?
- Stress
- Health status
- Emergency slaughter
- Stunning practices (blood splash)
- Sticking practics (blood clots)
What are the signs of a bad bleeding?
Pink/red colour of serous membrane and lymph nodes
Congestion of offal
What is a good bleed time? How much blood is lost with bleeding?
at least 2 minutes
40-50% blood loss with bleeding (approx 60% of which is lost within 30secs from sticking)
What are the requirements for the food handling rooms?
Enough designated washbasins for staff
- Sinks, apron washers close to workstations
- Sinks near toilets and at entry points to food handling rooms
- Supplied with hot and cold running water, soap, hygienic drying facilities
- Non-hand operated
- Must be separate from food washing facilities
Enough facilities to disinfect tools
- Water >82C
- Equivalent systems (chemical disinfection)
- Positioned close to workstations
- Blades/junctions fully immersed
- Above >90C (steam for Healthy and safety reasons)
Why is skinning/depilation a critical control point?
It is the principal mechanism by which contamination from the skin is transferred to the exposed muscle surfaces or cattle and sheep
How can contamination occur during skinning/depilation?
- Via knives during initial incisions through the skin
- Via hands, arms, and tools of slaughtermen during separation of the skin from the underlying musculature
- By direct contact between contaminated fleece and muscles
- Via dust or aerosols created by the action of mechanical fleece/hide pullers
- Aerosols from uncontrolled drainage of water onto the floor and the use of high pressure hoses in the slaughter hall
Describe ways to minimise transfer of contamination from hide to exposed surface of meat for cattle and sheep.
- After initial cut, all knife cuts should be from the inside out
- Frequent wash and sterilization of knives, hands, and arms between carcases
- Prevent in-rolling of the hide/fleece using clips and paper towels
- Machinery (hide pullers) should be supervised and maintained
- Flaying must be complete
How do you prevent cross-contamination?
- Carcases and offal should not contact walls, floors, work stands, etc.
- Where contact surfaces with tools and working stands are unavoidable:
- Working tools should be rinsed and sterilised with water at >82 degrees between carcases
- Meat protected with plastic bags or sheets of paper
- Care when washing bone dust from carcases to prevent splashing
- Dirty operative should not enter clean areas
How are pigs skinned/depilated?
They are usually de-haired not skinned using a scald tank (60-65C) followed by scraping and singeing
What are the unique hygiene problems presented by pig scalding?
Scald tanks builds up dirt from skin and gut contents
Stick wound becomes contaminated and must be routinely trimmed
What should the walls look like in food handling rooms?
Maintained in sound conditions and easy to clean and disinfect
- smooth surface
- floor to wall junctions are sealed
- light coloured ideal (to see dirt)
When does evisceration take place?
After skinning and without undue delay.
It is recommended within 45 minutes from slaughter to avoid migration of bacteria from the gut to the muscles
How is a gut tract removed during evisceration?
It is removed in such a way that no ingest, faeces or gut content escapes. This is usually in one piece with no leakage at either end.
To seal the ends:
- Rodding of the oesophagus
- Tie a knot
- Bunging of the anus
- Bagging of the anus
What happens after evisceration?
Carcase splitting and then removal of the spinal cord followed by trimming and quality inspection
What happens during trimming and quality inspection?
Removal of excessive fat and muscle with blood stain (disposed of as ABP)
Check, removal, and record of all sort of contamination before PMI
- THIS IS AN ESSENTIAL HACCP CONTROL
What should the ceilings look like in food handling rooms?
They should be easy to clean, constructed so to avoid accumulation of dirt, reduce formation of condensation and mould, overhead fixtures must be cleaned regularly
What is the purpose of carcass washing?
To wash off bone dust from carcase splitting and loose hairs only
What are the risk factors of carcass washing? How do you avoid these risks?
Increased risk of cross-contamination through splashing and aerosols
Avoid by NOT USING THIS AS A METHOD TO WASH OF CONTAMINATION, using low pressure, high volume spray, and working from top to bottom.
How should chillers be designed and maintained?
Meat must not contact walls, doors, floors
Appropriate cleaning and rinsing
Beware rail dust, rust, paint flake, and grease
Ventilation
- To minimise contamination of food from aerosols/droplets
- Control ambient temp
- Control odours which might affect food quality
- Ventilate from in to out to prevent flow from contaminated area to clean
Describe the facilities for washing food.
Use a sink or hose with continuous flowing of potable water (static water is NOT acceptable) that is ducted into drains
Describe the characteristics of equipment that has food contact.
They should permit easy cleaning and disinfection.
They are smooth (wood is generally NOT acceptable)
Non-corrodible (so that it doesn’t contaminate food)
Sufficient distance/height to prevent contamination
