Reducing the contamination of beef carcasses by specified risk materials during slaughter

According to the European Community Regulation 1139/2003, a sampling plan based on an appropriate tests to detect the presence of central nervous system (CNS) tissue on the surface of the head muscles had to be implemented in each member state starting from 2003. In previous studies, we showed a medium CNS contamination in head meat from Italian slaughterhouses of 14,7%. Recently, German authors referred about alarming rates (82%) of CNS contamination in para-vertebral muscles after routine carcass splitting and spinal cord removal practices. In that context, the authors intended to assess the percentage of CNS contamination in muscles close to the vertebral column obtained by applying three different removal practices of specific risk material (SRM). Two alternative techniques, by sucking out and by water-jet, were compared to the traditional one; in both situations the removal of spinal cord occurred before the carcass splitting. The percentage of contamination resulted 62% applying the traditional technique, 60% with the sucking out system and 36% using the water-jet. The results show that water-jet ensures the most significant reduction of SRM contamination in para-vertebral meat as it guarantees a rapid and complete extraction of the spinal cord.