Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
will by necessity be passing back and forth from clean
workroom to the waste skip area.
At the initial design stage or any subsequent modifica-
tion to the slaughter hall and associated areas, the slaugh-
terhouse operator should consider the following:
How will the carcase get to and then progress down the line?
How will each operative get to his/her workstation?
What is to be harvested?
Where will that harvesting occur?
How and where will all parts requiring inspection be
presented for official inspection?
Is a batching system required?
How will correlation be maintained?
How will inspected material get to the chills?
What equipment or containers will be required?
Where will they come from?
How will that equipment/container be cleaned before reuse?
What waste will be generated?
Where will it be generated?
How can the waste be contained and removed?
The use of chutes removing waste without the need for per-
sonnel movements is clearly advantageous. As part of the
audit and review of approval, the official veterinarian should
always consider whether the slaughterhouse operator has
done the best he can in terms of the design and layout of the
premises as a whole as well as within individual workrooms.
Where layout or flow lines are less than optimal, the official
veterinarian must consider whether the operator is manag-
ing the inherent food safety risks that result.
Another important consideration is the layout of the
individual workstation. It is important that the washing
and sanitising equipment is sited so that it is simple and
convenient to use. To put it bluntly, if the equipment is not
positioned so that it is easier for the operative to use it than
not, it is inevitable that in the hurly-burly of the workplace
and the repetitive nature of the tasks, shortcuts will be
taken. An apron wash with the steriliser positioned on its
outer wall is one such example, where the operative steps
into the apron wash, washes the knife as he enters and
places it in the steriliser, washes his apron, hands and arms
in the apron wash, and collects a clean knife on his way out.
Figure 8.2
Flip/flap steel.
Again, if only washed and sterilised knives are sharp-
ened, most opportunities for cross-contamination
should be eliminated (Fig. 8.2).
Layout and flow lines
The layout of the slaughter hall and the flow lines for the
entry and exit of carcases, operatives, bins and other
equipment is particularly important and must be prop-
erly designed at the planning stage. Adequate space is a
fundamental requirement for subsequent hygienic oper-
ation. There should be a clear demarcation and, as far as
possible, physical separation between clean and dirty
parts of the abattoir. Operatives must be able to reach
their workstation without risking contamination of
themselves or the meat by walking through or under car-
cases on the lines or passing through 'less fit' parts of the
abattoir such as green offal rooms, rendering plants or
waste storage areas. During breaks, procedures must be
in place to ensure that work clothes and equipment
remain clean. Insufficient thought in this area frequently
leads to workers from different parts of the abattoir using
the same facilities during breaks, with the potential for
cross-contamination. It is not unknown for food factory
operatives to be seen playing football in the factory sur-
rounds still wearing their protective clothing and foot-
wear during their breaks from the line.
It is obvious that waste bins and the hide conveyor
should never cross the slaughter line because of the risk
of contamination, but poor design, especially in the
older factories with twisted lines, sometimes makes this
impossible to avoid. It is not only the bin of, for example
pet food, but also the operative who propels it. He or she
Dressing techniques - Removal
of hide/fleece/hair
The contamination of the carcase by dirt, debris and hair
from the outer integument of the animal must be pre-
vented as far as possible by good dressing technique. In
many cases, complete prevention is almost impossible, for
example, with deer which have been allowed to wallow, are
caked with mud and in addition shed their hair profusely.
Details of some recommended techniques are outlined in
