Principles of Meat Inspection Flashcards
What are the reasons for post-mortem inspection?
- Animal welfare
- Animal health
- Public health
How are chemical agents checked for in meat?
- Food chain information
- Random testing for residues performed by FSA
- Premises facilities, equipment used and cleaning procedures
How are biological agent hazards identified in the food chain?
Ante-mortem examination
Post-mortem examination
How are physical agent hazards identified in meat inspection?
- Premises facilities, equipment used and cleaning procedures
- Post-mortem examination
- Pest control
- Premises facilities
- Hygiene of workers and/or operations
- Health certificates
How is enforcment against hazards done?
- Verbal advice
- Escalates if non-compliance not corrected to written advice
- Formal notices
- Referral for investigation- depending on offence it can be immediately referred for investigation or formal notice served
What would be wrong with this?
FBO inadequately marking ABP bins with SRM being put into category 3 skip which could lead to SRM being sent for pet food
What are the on site duties of the FSA team?
- Auditing of FBO responsibilities- non-compliance leads to chain of enforcment
- Welfare investigations- if FBO related: enforcment, if not FBO: record and report to APHA
- Reporting of notifiable diseases to APHA
- Inspection- fit/unfit- (AM) for slaughter, (PM) for human consumption
- Detention
- Residue sampling as part of national surveillance scheme
When should an official veterinarian consider a suspension or revocation of certificate of competences?
CoC suspension or revocation if during welfare assessments they are of the opinion that the holder:
* Is no longer a fit and proper person
* Is no longer competent to carry out the operations which the CoC authorises
* Has failed to comply with any provision of the EU regulation of WATOK
* Has been convicted of any offence under any animal welfare legislation
What good hygiene practices does the OV audit on FBO procedures?
- Maintenance of facilities
- Cross contamination on the line
- Cross contamination at sampling
- Storage
- Separation
- Disposal
- HACCP- based procedures- the FBOs food safet managment system
What ‘compliance with own procedures’ and ‘guarantee that meat is free from’ does the OV audit?
Compliance with own procedures
* Health and welfare of animals
* Animal identification
* Testing requriments
* ABP/SRM handling
Guarentee the meat is free from
* Patho-physiological abnormalities or changes
* Contamination (faecal, SRM or other)
What does a healthmark/identification show?
Undergone ante and post-mortem inspection
Fit for human consumption
How big do health marks need to be?
What size must letters be?
6.5cm and 4.5cm high
Letters must be at least 0.8cm high and figures at least 1cm
No maximum size for identification mark but must be legible
Where are healthmarks applied on red meat carcasses?
When are idenfitication marks used?
Red meat carcases: halves, quarters, sixths
Identification marks: packaging and smaller parts= monitored by FSA
Why may health marks be withheld PM?
- Failure of ante-mortem/PM
- Loss of tracability
- Presence of SRM
- Contamination or gross path
- Residues or contaminants are suspected
- Water supply found to be contaminated
- No adequate inspection facilities rendering contamination or gross path inconspicuous
- Animals suffering from a notifiable disease
- Meat declared by the OV unfit for human consumption
What are the chilling temps for:
1. Red meat
2. White meat
3. Offal
What is the temperature for freezing?
- 7 degrees
- 4 degrees
- 3 degrees
-20 degrees
What are the purporses of lab testing?
- Monitoring and control of zoonoses/agents
- TSEs
- Unauthorised substances or products and the control of regulated substances
- Detection of OIE list A, and list B diseases
- Any other necessary tests
What are the rules the FSA have for staturoty targeted sampling by member states?
- Cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses
- Random selection but some exceptions
- Fitness state not affected
- Kidney, kidney fat, liver, muscle, blood and urine
- EU requirement
- Number determined by VMD
- Veterinary medicines, pesticides and heavy metals
What happens if residues are suspected?
If no implant is found but the OV is suspicious what samples should be taken?
Powers to detain animals suspected of containing residues above MRL or unauthorised
Hormones- blood and either urine/faeces
Beta-agonitsts- urine
Animals not in lairage for >48h, if slaughtered detained until results
What happens if residues are suspected?
If no implant is found but the OV is suspicious what samples should be taken?
Powers to detain animals suspected of containing residues above MRL or unauthorised
Hormones- blood and either urine/faeces
Beta-agonitsts- urine
Animals not in lairage for >48h, if slaughtered detained until results
Where is TSE tested for in bovine and ovine/caprine?
Bovine: brainstem
Ovine/caprine: brainstem/cerebellum
What SRM for BSE in cattle all ages in member states with controlled risk of BSE has to be destroyed?
England, Wales, ROI, France, Greece
Tonsils
Last 4m of SI
Caecum
Mesentery
What SRM in cattle over 12 months and over 30 months has to be destroyed in member states with controlled risk of BSE?
All- tonsils, last 4m of SI, caecum, mesentery
Over 12: Skull excluding mandible, including brain, eyes and spinal cord
Over 30:
* vertebrae of tail
* Spinous and transverse process of cervical, thoracic and lumbar vertabrae
* Median sacral crest and wings of sacrum
What is destroyed in member states with neglible risk of BSE in cattle over and under 12 months?
Over 12 months:
Skull excluding the mandible and including the brain and eyes and spinal cord
Under 12 months: No SRM
What is the SRM in sheep and goats for BSE under 12 months and over 12 months?
Under 12 months: No SRM
Over 12 months: Skull including the brain and eyes and spinal cord
What happens with a discrepancies of tracability control?
- Detain carcass and passport
- Keeper has 48 hours to correct
- Report and/or enforcment if necessary
How is cattle age estimated before slaughter?
Number of erupted and inwear incisors
What are ‘suspect animals’ for notifiable diseases?
Any animal which a notifiable disease is suspected and any animal which came frome the same premises of origin
During an investigation of a notifiable disease what is done?
What happens if suspicioin cannot be ruled out?
What happens following a positive/negative result?
During investigation: stop entry of animals, stop slaughter, isolate suspects and potentially contaminated carcases
If suspicion cannot be ruled out: restriction notice closing establishments, collect samples for diagnostics
Negative- meat released
Positive- disposal of affected meat
- What are the PM lesions of Bacillus anthracis?
- Can a suspected animal enter the food chain?
- What is the mortality?
- Spleen severly enlarged and dark, extensive petechiae, blood clots, dark blood
- Animals should not enter the slaughter line when suspected AM VO notified immediately
- Mortality- 48 hours, sudden deaths of farms
What are the clinical signs of acute and subacute/chronic swine fever?
Acute
* Fever, depression, anorexia, loss of appetite, petechiae in skin, lymph nodes black, abortion, cyanosis, vomiting, diarrhoea
* Mortalist upto 100%
Sub acute and chronic
* less virulent
* loss of weight
* intermittend fever
* respiratory signs
* chronic skin and intestinal ulcers and arthritis
* Mortality 30-70%
Animals should not enter the slaughter line when suspected AM, VO must be
What are the clinical signs of bovine brucellosis?
- Abortion in late pregnancy, oedematous placenta and foetus
- High rate of infertility, inflammation of testes and epididymis, swelling of scrotum
- Hygromas on the knees, stilfes, hock and angle of the haunch and between the nuchal ligament and primary thoracic spines
What is the surveillance strategy for bovine brucellosis?
- Post import checks including tests done post-calving of imported cattle
- regular bulk milk testing of dairy herds
- investigations of cattle abortions
- Annual check blood testing of eligble herds
- breeding bull monitoring
What diseases give compensation when cattle compulsorily slaughtered?
Bovine TB
Brucellosis
Enzootic Bovine Leukosis
What happens with slaughter when a cow tests postivie or inconclusively for bovine brucellosis?
What dictates whether the animal is allowed into the food chain?
- Slaughtered separately
- Hook should be used in handling the uterus and udder
- Employees should wear gloves and avoid accidental cuts
If the meat contains animals with lesions indicating acute infection- UNFIT
No lesions- the udder, repro tract and blood unfit
- What is compulsorily slaughtered by the APHA with TB?
- What can the herd owner voluntarily slaughter?
- Reactor and direct contact cases- slaughtered at APHA contracted slaughter house
- Fat stock, surplus, calves, cull cows, inconclusive reactors- ordinary abbattoir
What decides whether Tb cases are fit for human consumption?
- Multiple locations: unfit
- Single location: affected area considered unfit for human consumption
- What are the clinical signs of Enzootic bovine leukosis?
- How is it transmitted?
- What are the APHA frequent actions?
- Disseminated tumours, GI, anorexia, weakness, fall in milk, bulging eyes, partial paralysis of the hindlegs, death within months
- Transmission via colostrum and milk or transfer of infected lymphocytes
- <2 PI no further action (record), >3 PI VO investigation, sample LNs, carcass and offal detained depending on results
Exogenous C-type oncovirus
What samples and information are taken if a cow has warble fly?
- If slaughter necessary prior to arrival of VO, the carcase and hide along with the identifying ear tag should be detained
- 7ml vacutainer sample of clotted blood should be collected at slaughter
