Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
crumbly and dry. When cooked, the green colour, due to
breakdown products of haemoglobin and myoglobin, is
accentuated.
Advanced lesions can be seen or detected by palpa-
tion. More recent ones can be detected by cutting into
the muscle or inserting a light into the thoracic cavity
after evisceration.
The lesion, although unsightly, is not harmful to the
consumer and merits local condemnation only.
and tail pecking, often leading to serious downgrading of
the carcases of affected individuals.
Contamination
Poultry carcases may be contaminated in various ways,
for example, faecal matter, paints, oils, poisons, biologi-
cal residues and dirty scalding tank water. All such car-
cases must be condemned.
Decomposition
Carcases of poultry that have died from causes other
than slaughter must be condemned, as must carcases
affected with general spoilage.
Over-scald
Carcases which present a cooked appearance of the flesh
owing to an excessively high temperature or being held
too long in the scalding tank must be condemned.
Barking
This occurs when the cuticle (the outer layer of the
epidermis) is damaged by too high a scald tempera-
ture and subsequent plucking. During air chilling,
there is unequal drying owing to the damage and
brown discoloration of the surface. This is only seen
in fresh, non-frozen carcases. Dampening areas which
are only slightly affected will remove the abnormal
colour.
Fevered carcases
Fevered carcases are generally considered to be carcases
which have congested musculature but no other signs of
septicaemia/toxaemia such as pericarditis, perihepatitis
or airsacculitis.
Judgement.
Condemnation.
Septicaemia
Septicaemic carcases are those which have congested,
darkened muscles with some or all of the following:
airsacculitis, perihepatitis, pericarditis and enlarged
spleen. On bacteriological examination,
E. coli
is found
most often but
S. enteritidis
is sometimes isolated. The
organisms present tend to be common to the whole
flock.
Diseases of the female reproductive system
These are relatively common non-infectious disorders in
end-of-lay domestic fowl but less so in turkeys, ducks
and geese.
Egg peritonitis is caused when the ova (yolk) are
present in the peritoneum rather than in the oviduct.
The yolk is usually viscous and gives the appearance
of an 'oily peritonitis'. Impaction of the oviduct occurs
when a normal egg, or more commonly a mass of
inspissated yolk material, obstructs the oviduct to
varying degrees.
Judgement.
Condemnation.
Insufficient bleeding
In cases where no bleeding has taken place, the carcase is
very red in colour. There are obvious welfare implica-
tions in this condition, and it is essential that there is a
well-trained, dedicated plant operative as a manual
backup to bleed any bird which may have missed the
automatic neck cutter.
Oregon disease
A deep pectoral myopathy of turkeys and chickens, also
called green muscle disease, this myopathy is an ischae-
mic necrosis which develops in the deep pectoral muscle
(the fillet).
The condition is only seen at necropsy or at process-
ing, when as many as 40%, but usually less, of the spent
breeding hens may be affected. It occurs less frequently
in males.
The lesion may be unilateral or bilateral and in
advanced cases may show a flattening of the normally
convex breast muscle ('slab sided'). The actual lesions are
of variable size and are clearly demarcated from the sur-
rounding healthy tissue. Initially, there is a swollen, red-
dish-brown area, often associated with an excess of
gelatinous fluid which later becomes green in colour,
Emaciation
As in red meat inspection, emaciation is due to some
pathological condition. It is important to distinguish
emaciation from the poor condition of end-of-lay com-
mercial egg layers, the meat of which is suitable for
incorporation into soups, pies, etc., provided it passes
meat inspection.
Viscera absent
Carcases presented for examination with no viscera pre-
sent should be condemned.
Relevant EU legislation.
Directives 2003/99, 71/118,
91/495, 92/65 and 92/116.
