Original scientific paper

Alternative cattle slaughtering technologies and/or measures reducing the dissemination of central nervous system tissue during head handling, harvesting of cheek meat and tongue and carcass splitting

Spyridon Basilios Ramantanis

Abstract

There is an abundance of critical hygiene points in connection with the handling of the head and the harvesting of head tissues. If a wide range of precautions is not taken, then the danger of cross-contamination of carcasses, abattoir workers, the environment, equipment, and even wastewater is unavoidable. The most critical process stage, in terms of edible meat contamination with specified risk material (SRM), is the current common practice of the longitudinal splitting of the carcass. The carcass splitting saw poses a particular risk in terms of cross-contamination of carcasses, equipment, surfaces and operatives. Tissues of central nervous system (CNS) carry almost all of the infectivity in cattle subclinically and clinically affected by the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) agent. Should animals suffering from subclinical BSE enter the usual commercial slaughter procedure, it is likely that the BSE prion, amongst others, will be disseminated onto the processed carcasses. If such carcasses are consumed by humans this may lead to the development of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD). Protocols ensuring the safe handling of head and harvesting of head tissues, alternative methods of spinal column/cord removal for reducing the contamination of carcass and/or the environment and measures for the protection of operatives in the abattoir are discussed.

Keywords

bovine spongiform encephalopathy (bse); variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vcjd); dissemination of central nervous system (cns) tissue

Hrčak ID:

5082

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/5082

Publication date:

20.2.2006.

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