16 INSPECTION AND PRE-SLAUGHTER CARE OF POULTRY

INTRODUCTION

Meat

Meat is a skeletal muscle of animal which undergoes physical, chemical & biochemical changes & used as food.

The present production of meat is estimated at 6.27 million tons in 2010 (FAO, 2012) which is 2.21% of the world’s meat production.

STRESSES ON POULTRY

Stress encountered on the poultry during

ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES OF TRANSPORTATION

Physical, physiological and behavioral changes

Increasing stress and mortality in all classes of poultry

EFFECT DURING TRANSPORTATION

Reduced liver weight
Did not affect live or carcass weights.
Withdrawal of food alone or of both feed and water, for 24 hr Resulted in a 10% decrease in live weight.
ComparisonHoldingbirdsinlairageof thefor1, basic2or3hr nutritionalincreasedtheirbody Temperature and depleted their liver glycogen
Did not dehydrate them or physically stress them
Transportation of poultry constitutes the largest commercial translocation of a single class of livestock in Italy.
In 2004, the number of slaughtered broiler chickens- 450 million.
Turkeys and spent hens were 35 and 46 million

All these birds before slaughter are

I. Caught

II. Loaded into cages or coops

III. Transported to an abattoir that may be Located either close or far from the farm.

IV. laired in a holding area

MORTALITY DURING TRANSPORTATION

Mortality is higher in consignments of broilers transported for a longer amount of time.
For journeys lasting less than 4 h, the prevalence of dead birds was 0.156%,
For longer journeys (up to 9 h), it was 0.283%, an increase of about 80%.
Shorter journey time (<3.5 h) exhibited a lower mortality rate (0.24%) of birds in respect with longer time (>5 h; 0.45%).

PROBLEMS DURING TRANSPORTATION

Potentially increase the rate of mortality
The recent Council Regulation 2005/1/EC have established that suitable food and water shall be available in adequate quantities in the case of a journey lasting more than 12 h.
The European Union proposal of Council Directive 2005/99/CNS lays down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production and includes the mortality during transport (<0.5%)

POULTRY HYGIENE

PRESLAUGHTER INSPECTION

Sick birds should not be sent for slaughter.
They should be disposed of at the farm under veterinary supervision if possible.
The circumstances of the sickness should always be reported to the veterinarian.
Cleaning and disinfection of cages should be carried out after use.
The vehicles which carry the modules or cages should also be cleaned and disinfected after use.

VEHICLE AND TRANSPORT HYGIENE

Cleaning and disinfection of cages should be carried out after use.
The vehicles which carry the modules or cages should also be cleaned and disinfected after use.

PERSONAL CLEANLINESS AND HABITS

Good personal cleanliness and Habits.
Staff are involved at all stages of processing provision of cleaning facilities and materials.
Staff training in hygienic practices

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Suggested readings

Petracci M., Bianchi M., Cavani C., Gaspari P., and Lavazza A. (2006). Preslaughter Mortality in Broiler Chickens, Turkeysa, nd Spent Hens Under Commercial Slaughtering. Poultry Science 85:1660–1664.
Elrom, K. 2001. Handling and transportation of broilers – welfare, stress, fear and meat quality. Part VI: The consequences of handling and transportation of chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus). Isr. J. Vet. Med. 56:1–5.
Petracci, M., M. Bianchi, and C. Cavani. 2005. Preslaughter factors affecting mortality, liveweight loss, and carcass quality in broiler chickens. Pages 104–107 in Proc. XVII Eur. Symp. Qual. Poult. Meat, Doorwerth, The Netherlands.
Sagar R. P. Theory study material course No.: FDST 312 Processing of meat and poultry products. Acharya N. G. Ranga agricultural university