How does slaughter procedure affects the meat quality?
Affected carcass and meat quality traits All of these stressful ante-mortem operations lead to the development of carcass and meat quality defects. Among them are mortality, carcass damage, shrink loss, contamination by pathogens, and pale, soft, exudative (PSE) and dark, firm, dry (DFD) meat.
Pre-slaughter stress may result in lower glycogen levels which may lead to increased pH values from meat causing darker meat (Muchenje et al., 2008; Yu et al., 2009).
Marbling, backfat thickness, rib eye area, flesh color and muscle fiber are greatly influenced by age, with significant differences demonstrated (P . 05). Marbling, backfat thickness and rib eye area increased with age, but marbling tended to be stable after 12 months of age.
Animals must be fully stunned—unconscious and insensible to pain—before they're shackled, strung up, and slaughtered. But so many animals remain alert to what's happening through to the very end. Animals must also be able to walk into the slaughterhouse on their own.
3) Pre-slaughter factors which affect the quality of meat are as follows: a) Animal factors like-species, breed, age, sex and location of muscle. b) Managemental factors like-system of rearing, feeding and treatment. . C) Ante-mortem. factors like pre-slaughter handling, transportation and stunning.
- Breed and sex.
- Diet and finishing.
- Selection and handling.
- Age and growth rate.
- Fat level.
Fear and pain are very strong causes of stress in livestock and stress affects the quality of meat obtained from this livestock. Pain is usually the effect of injury and suffering, which also affects the quality and value of meat from affected animals.
Poor quality animal and meat will have poor processing properties, functional quality, eating quality, and more likely to be unaccepted by consumers. Lesser attention has been paid by most developing countries on this issue.
Laila Aass explains that stressed cattle yield DFD-meat, an abbreviation for Dark, Firm and Dry. “It affects perishability,” says Aass. DFD is caused by the muscles of the animals being depleted of their stored muscle energy prior to slaughtering, which hinders a natural decrease in pH level after the animal dies.
Long-term preslaughter stress, such as fighting, cold weather, fasting and transit, which occurs 12 to 48 hours prior to slaughter depletes muscle glycogen, resulting in meat which has a higher pH, darker color, and is drier.
How temperature affects the quality of meat?
Bacteria grow most rapidly in the range of temperatures between 40 ° and 140 °F, doubling in number in as little as 20 minutes. This range of temperatures is often called the "Danger Zone." That's why the Meat and Poultry Hotline advises consumers to never leave food out of refrigeration over 2 hours.
The main factors that affect beef eating quality are: Hump height - All breeds of cattle are eligible for MSA grading. Hump height is used as a direct predictor of eating quality in conjunction with hot standard carcase weight (HSCW) and sex. Generally, as hump height increases, eating quality decreases.
Also, poor preslaughter handling can also lead to losses in carcass value as a result of reduced yield, the presence of lesions and bacterial contamination, and meat quality defects (e.g., pale, soft, exudative and dark, firm, dry pork).
The stunning process ensures the animal is unconscious and insensible to pain before being bled out at slaughter. Common stunning methods include electrical stunning, captive-bolt stunning or the use of carbon dioxide gas. Following stunning, the animal is bled and remains unconscious until it dies due to blood loss.
The slaughter process has two stages: Stunning, when performed correctly, causes an animal to lose consciousness, so the animal can't feel pain. The law states that, with few exceptions, all animals must be stunned before 'sticking' (neck cutting) is carried out.
Quality can be identified as those factors that affect the palatability of tastefulness, flavor and juiciness of the meat. Quality grading on beef carcasses is determined by two subjectively scored factors in all cases where color, texture and firmness of lean are normal.
Beef carcass quality grading is based on (1) degree of marbling and (2) degree of maturity.
The grade is primarily determined by the degree of marbling — the small flecks of fat within the beef muscle. Marbling provides flavor, tenderness and juiciness to beef and improves overall palatability. Other grading factors include animal age, and color and texture of the muscle.
Temperature is the most important factor influencing bacterial growth. Pathogenic bacteria do not grow well in temperatures under 3 °C (38 °F). Therefore, meat should be stored at temperatures that are as cold as possible. Refrigerated storage is the most common method of meat preservation.
Meat quality can be evaluated according to the following parameters: pH, amount of lactic acid, volatile fatty acids, bounded water, solubility of proteins, color, and tenderness. The meat composition and physical properties of muscles have been characterized for ensuring improved eating quality.
What will you recommend to do to the animals before slaughter to avoid meat quality losses?
Fasting before slaughter reduces the volume of gut contents and hence bacteria and therefore reduces the risk of contamination of the carcass during dressing. It is usually sufficient for the animals to receive their last feed on the day before slaughter.
FAO (1991) specifies the withdrawal of feed 12-24 hours before slaughter. This will reduce the risk of contaminating the carcass with the gut content during evisceration, and reduce processing time and cost.
Lack of employee training and poor supervision of employees by management. Poor maintenance of equipment and facilities, such as malfunctioning stunners or worn, slick, floors which cause animals to slip and fall. Poor condition of animals arriving at the plant, such as cripples and sick animals.
Quality of meat is affected by the genetic propensity of the animal, how the animal is reared, and the nutritional status during production. These factors affect the fat, lean and connective tissue component of meat and therefore influence meat quality.
U.S. slaughter facilities produce millions of pounds of pollution annually. These facilities discharge water contaminated with blood, oil, grease and fats, ammonia, dangerous fecal bacteria, and excrement. antibiotic-resistant bacteria. plants without treating waste, worsening overflow at treatment plants.
Microbial growth, oxidation and enzymatic autolysis are the three basic mechanisms responsible for the spoilage of meat. In addition to lipid oxidation and enzyme reactions, meat spoilage is almost always caused by microbial growth.
Age and Weight at Slaughter
Age is an important determinant of carcass and meat quality. Generally, the lean:bone ratio increase with age.
In the last few years, a strategy to improve meat product quality proved to be the incorporation of some functional or bioactive components. These compounds include dietary fibers, antioxidants, probiotics and prebiotics, which are increasing the nutritional value.
As the temperature increases so does the speed of tenderization. Below about 140°F (60°C) the meat is tenderizing much more quickly than it is contracting, resulting in minimal moisture loss. Holding meat at a lower temperature means that you can tenderize the meat without losing much moisture.
Controlling the temperature of food is extremely important in ensuring that food is safe to eat, and you must ensure that food is always cooked, cooled, chilled or reheated properly to minimise the risk of harmful levels of bacteria in the food that you sell.
How does freezing affect meat quality?
The quality suffers each time frozen meat is defrosted and refrozen. Freezing creates ice crystals within the structure of the meat (as meat contains a high percentage of water). These ice crystals rupture the fibre which causes the meat to bleed when defrosted. If repeated, the texture of the meat will be very dry.
The quality of a food is defined from two perspec- tives: scientific status and consumer preferences. Scientific factors affecting the quality of a food in- clude composition, spoilage, colorants, additives, nutrients, flavorants, functional ingredients (affect- ing health), contamination, general safety, etc.
Policy Report: Marketing, traceability, labor and conservation are among the key issues. Economic recovery and growth since the onslaught and disruptions of COVID-19 have helped raise prospects for beef producers and other livestock producers in 2022.
Generally speaking the shelf-life of meat and meat products will be longer the lower the pH-value and/or aw-value. Both factors (either pH or aw alone or the two together) have a decisive influence on the growth of micro-organisms in food.
Pre-slaughter management
These conditions lead to the occurrence of PSE (Pale, Soft, and Exudative) meat and DOA (Death on Arrival). PSE meat originates from a rapid decline in pH while the carcass is still hot, leading to denaturation of myofibril proteins thus compromising their functional properties.
The animals generally arrive at slaughterhouses in a weakened physical and psychological state. They are hungry, exhausted, and often confused and frightened.
Pigs are commonly stunned using CO2 (animals are lowered into a chamber that is 90 percent CO2) stunning or electrical stunning, whereas cattle are stunned using captive bolt. Stunning renders an animal insensitive to pain and unconscious instantly. This must be done before slaughter occurs.
The Humane Slaughter Act specifically requires that cows and pigs be "rendered insensible to pain by a single blow or gunshot or an electrical, chemical or other means that is rapid and effective, before being shackled, hoisted, thrown, cast, or cut." There's an exception for kosher and/or halal slaughter, and a big ...
Chickens possess a highly developed nervous system and experience pain when injured and killed. Chickens also have complex cognitive and emotional capacities, which result in emotional distress and suffering during slaughter.
Do Cows Feel Pain When Milked? Milking a healthy cow is not painful and may actually be relieving due to the sheer volume of milk that the cows produce without their calf present to relieve the pressure.
What is the importance of slaughtering procedure?
Slaughtering procedure
to ensure that consumers receive only wholesome products for consumption; to ensure that by-products are properly treated so as to cause no direct hazard to health; to provide a warning of the presence of serious contagious diseases among farm livestock.
Carcass and meat quality defects such as pale soft exudative meat, dark firm and dry meat, skin blemishes, blood splashes, bruising, cyanosis, two-toning, high microbial load, spoilage of meat, broken bones and death may occur from improper animal handling (Adzitey et al., 2011a; Warriss, 2000).
Fear and pain are very strong causes of stress in livestock and stress affects the quality of meat obtained from this livestock. Pain is usually the effect of injury and suffering, which also affects the quality and value of meat from affected animals.
Death is a harm to animals because, as beings with the capacity for positive experiences, they have an interest in living. In slaughterhouses, animals also experience fear and pain before they die.
Long-term preslaughter stress, such as fighting, cold weather, fasting and transit, which occurs 12 to 48 hours prior to slaughter depletes muscle glycogen, resulting in meat which has a higher pH, darker color, and is drier.
Ideally all animals rest in the lairage after arrival at the abattoir. This allows them to recover from the stresses of transport and acts as a pre-slaughter process buffer. Maintaining low stress levels in the live animal is an important welfare issue, but also has a beneficial effect on meat quality.
The stunning renders the birds insensitive to pain. Most commercial poultry slaughter facilities render chickens unconscious (stunning) prior to slaughter through the use of low voltage electrical current or controlled atmosphere stunning.
Pre-slaughter management
These conditions lead to the occurrence of PSE (Pale, Soft, and Exudative) meat and DOA (Death on Arrival). PSE meat originates from a rapid decline in pH while the carcass is still hot, leading to denaturation of myofibril proteins thus compromising their functional properties.
- pH-value or the degree of acidity of the product (see Ch. 5);
- aw value or the amount of moisture available in the product (see Ch. 5); and exogenous factors, such as:
- oxygen (from the air);
- micro-organisms;
- temperature;
- light; and.
- evaporation and desiccation.