JKUAT

BSc Public Health

PPH 2302
Lecture 1

Definition of Meat Hygiene Terms

Public Health (PH)

This is the total practice of human community medicine resulting in extending life
expectancy and delaying the inevitability of death through the promotion of healthful
conditions and habits. PH is also defined as the prevention of illnesses and the co-
ordination of community approaches to medical care.

Veterinary Public Health

 The term “Veterinary public health,” according to an intelligent guy named Schwabe
was introduced after World War II by public health administrators in the US Public
Health Service to designate those areas of public health in which veterinary
medicine shares particular interests.
 In the 1999 joint FAO/WHO expert committee agreed on the following definition of
VPH: “VPH is the sum of all contributions to the physical, mental and social well-
being of humans through understanding and application of veterinary science”. This
definition involves attention to the risks at the level of both production and
consumption in food of animal origin.
 The WHO describes VPH as “a component of public health activities devoted to the
application of veterinary skills, knowledge and resources to the protection and
improvement of human health.”
 VPH is a major part of public health where human health and human well-being are
the central tasks.
 The new consensus definition of VPH deals not only the physical well-being of
humans, but also the role of animals for the mental and social well-being of
humans.

1
 The importance of VPH in recent years is getting increasing attention because
immense changes have occurred in animal production processes and agricultural
structures.
 The trade in animals and products of animal origin is increasing due to the loss of
border controls within countries.
 This trade demands new and elaborate surveillance strategies. The active
surveillance of animal diseases, their distribution routes and control of emerging
and re-emerging diseases is one of the major tasks of VPH.
 The role also includes the analysis of the risk for humans and taking effective
interventional steps for the protection of human health.
 The scope of VPH is clearly multi-disciplinary, involving veterinarians, health
professionals and scientists as well as paraprofessionals who treat, control or
prevent diseases of animal origin. This discipline of veterinary medicine is global in
its potential impact and contribution as is public health. The needs and opportunities
for veterinarians are expanding in a number of organizations including public
agencies working on human and animal health.
 The horizon of VPH is expanding rapidly and based upon the present veterinary
skills, knowledge and resources; it has been recognized now as an essential field in
public health activities all over the world.
 The chief aim is to protect and improve human health and welfare. In the past this
discipline was evolved only to deal with three different issues: combating animal
diseases, performing meat inspection and control of zoonoses.
 At the present time VPH encompasses a wide variety of professional areas linking
the three elements such as control of zoonoses, control of food borne pathogens
and chemical residues and conserving the environment. Additionally, animal welfare
is also managed by the VPH service in the United States.
 The main function of VPH is to control and prevent zoonotic diseases that can be
transferred from animals to humans. Transmission of zoonotic diseases occurs
either through consuming contaminated foodstuffs or through contact with infected
animals.
 Zoonoses consist of a wide range of diseases including anthrax, brucellosis, bovine
tuberculosis, hydatid disease, echinococcosis, trichinellosis, rabies, highly
2
 pathogenic avian influenza, Nipah/Hendra disease and bovine spongiform
encephalopathy. A risk-based program should be carried out in preventing or
controlling the transmission of zoonoses. In order to implement an effective
zoonoses control program, attention should be paid to ecological, cultural, social
and ethical aspects.
 The protection of foodstuffs of animal origin for human consumption, to guarantee
their safety and nutritional quality and to prevent disease transmitted in this way is
the main responsibilities of the VPH.
 Safe food plays an important role on the quality of life, whether domestically
produced and consumed, imported or exported.
 Increased presence of additives, pesticides, antibiotics and hormones in foods of
animal origin are other emerging VPH problems. Intentional contamination of food
has become a serious threat to consumers. Over the last decades, the food chain
approach has been recognized as an important step forward to ensure food safety
from production up to consumption. This approach requires the commitment of all
players in the food chain, involving producers, traders, processors, distributors,
competent authorities as well as consumers. VPH service has the responsibility to
conduct ante and post-mortem inspection of carcasses to ensure wholesome meat
for human consumption.
 The quality of animal feed is important for the production of safe food for human
consumption.
 A core function of the VPH service is to protect the environment. Air pollution, water
pollution and soil pollution can cause a direct risk to human health. Environmental
pollutants arise from animal waste products including chemicals that may be used
during production. In addition, practicing vets will also produce potential
environmental contaminants in the form of used needles, syringes, animal tissue
and other clinical waste. All of these materials have to be dealt with in a safe and
controlled way to conserve the environment.
 Monitoring animal welfare is one of the important functions of the public health
veterinarian. Public health veterinarians have the scientific and medical training to
ensure animal welfare that enables them to judge the welfare of their patients and
clients.
3
In a nutshell, the role of VPH includes:
1. The Zoonoses. These deal with diseases that can be transmitted from animals to
man and from man to animals. It includes surveillance, prevention and control of
such diseases.
2. Hygiene of food of animal origin. This involves the safe processing and handling of
foods of animal origin in manners fit for human consumption and these include
meat, milk, eggs and fish products.
3. Environmental hazards and protection. This includes waste disposal and
management and pest control.
4. Occupational hazards, trauma, allergies and control of animal population which may
serve as disease reservoirs.

Veterinary Public Health can be viewed as the bridge between human medicine and the
practice of Veterinary Medicine. Efforts in Veterinary Public Health are geared towards the
production of safe and wholesome foods of animal origin for the purpose safeguarding the
health of the consuming populace.

Meat Hygiene
This is the scientific concepts and procedures applicable to the processing of food animals
in such a way that the meat and meat products derived thereof are safe and wholesome
for human and animal use.

General Principles of Food Hygiene

Food Hygiene can be defined as the efforts made to safeguard food from becoming health
hazard and to prevent early spoilage and contamination caused by handling of the foods.
The general principle of food hygiene is to ensure that food products are safe, wholesome
and fit for human consumption.

4
Fit for Human Consumption: This describes food which has been passed and appropriately
branded by an inspector and in which no subsequent changes have been found due to
disease, decomposition or contamination.

Three key elements in the general principles of food hygiene

In order for food to be classed as fit for human consumption, it must be safe, wholesome
and processed in a hygienic manner.
1. Safe: Food products must be free from any substance which may be harmful to
man. Such include both infectious agents and toxic substances of either
endogenous or exogenous origin.
2. Wholesome: Food products must be free from defects which may be either
endogenous diseases or exogenous non-microbial contamination and adulterations.

NB: Whereas the primary aim in a safe food product is to exclude harmful microbes from
the food chain, wholesomeness is much broader in that it implies that the food products
must be generally free from both microbial organisms, non-microbial contaminants and
even religiously and aesthetically acceptable to the consumer.

The criteria governing the wholesomeness of food products can be grouped as follows:
a) Such food products must be free from obvious defects including contamination with
seemingly harmless extraneous materials.
b) Microbial contamination of such food products must not exceed levels which could
adversely affect the shelf-life of the products.

The effect of microbial contamination on the keeping quality of food will depend on the type
of products and the storage methods. The attributes of such food products must conform
to expected standards such as colour, taste and smell.

3. Hygienic processing: Food products processed in the manner to ensure compliance

with the above requirements and to protect those involved in the process from
occupational hazards such as tuberculosis, brucellosis, salmonellosis, leptospirosis

5
 among others. Hygienic processing also implies that a production system is in place
which does not create environmental hazards to the public.

Other definitions
Edible products are defined as products that are fit for human consumption. This would
include meat, certain offal, casings, etc., from animals which have been examined and
passed by an inspector:

Inedible products are defined as “meat products which are not fit for human consumption”
and would include such products as hoofs, horn hair, bone, bristle, blood, dew claws, hide
and skin.

Condemned meat is defined as “meat and meat products which have been found by an
inspector not to be fit for human consumption”. All diseased and defective carcasses or
parts of carcasses will be declared condemned material by the inspector and severely
contaminated products may also be included in this category.

Aim of Meat Inspection

Meat inspection is the sanitary control of slaughter animals and meat. The aim of meat
inspection is to provide safe and wholesome meat for human consumption. The
responsibility for achieving this objective lies primarily with the relevant public health
authorities who are represented by veterinarians and meat inspectors at the abattoir stage.

2 objectives of meat inspection programme

i) To ensure that only apparently healthy, physiologically normal animals are slaughtered
for human consumption and that abnormal animals are separated and dealt with
accordingly.
ii) To ensure that meat from animals is free from disease, wholesome and of no risk to
human health

Purposes of meat inspection

6
i) To prevent unsanitary meat (i.e. self-dead animals, diseased meat, foetus etc.) from
being released for human consumption.
ii) To prevent post-mortem contamination of meat through unhygienic dressing of carcass,
contamination during washing with polluted water, contamination from human carriers of
infectious diseases etc.
iii) To prevent the addition of dangerous drugs and chemicals to meat e.g. in canning.
iv) To prevent false or fraudulent practices with meat e.g. soaking of meat and rubbing of
pale carcasses with blood by butchers.
v) To detect outbreaks of infectious diseases among food animals.

Meat Inspection
This is “Expert supervision of the whole process of producing meat products with the
object of providing wholesome meat for human consumption and preventing danger to
public health”.

There are 3 steps in Meat Inspection:

1. Ante-mortem inspection is the examination of animals prior to slaughter to assess their
suitability as a source of products fit for human consumption.
2. Post-mortem inspection is the examination of carcasses and organs after slaughter to
assess whether these products are fit for human consumption.
3. Hygiene and Sanitation inspection is the inspection of facilities, equipment and
processes to assess whether the production system is hygienic.

Ante-Mortem Inspection
1.1 Scope
 Before slaughtering, all animals are evaluated at ante-mortem inspection to make
sure that they are suitable for human consumption.
 Signs of contagious or zoonotic diseases are observed as well as indications of
animal welfare being compromised.
 The official veterinarian at the slaughterhouse is responsible for performing the
inspection.

7
1.2 Introduction
 Ante-mortem inspection is an important part of official control on products of animal
origin.
 It covers aspects that are very important in protecting public health, animal health
and animal welfare.
 Ante-mortem inspection is made to farmed animals and poultry slaughtered for
human consumption.
 In the lairage, the official veterinarian will carry out inspection tasks, and official
auxiliaries may assist the official veterinarian in the inspection.
 The inspection usually takes place within 24 hours of arrival in the lairage and less
than 24 hours before slaughter or at any other time when the official veterinarian
requires it.
 At the inspection, issues that affect public health, animal health, and animal welfare,
such as identification, cleanliness of animals, and visible abnormalities, must be
observed.
 The official veterinarian, the official auxiliaries and the slaughterhouse staff
responsible for the animals before slaughter must be trained to detect abnormalities
and non-compliances in the animals. Training is conducted in the Kenya Meat
Training Institute, Athi River
 The slaughterhouse layout and conditions must facilitate the ante-mortem
inspections, so that each animal can be readily checked and identified. For
example, adequate lightning is required.
 Separate pens for sick or suspect animals are necessary. In these pens,
contamination of other animals must be avoided.
 In large animal groups like pigs and poultry, it is sometimes difficult to observe each
animal separately.
 Poultry, which is transported in boxes to the slaughterhouse, is especially
problematic. The ante-mortem inspection of poultry must often be made to the
transport container systems, which consists of stacked cages.
 The cages and the transport container systems are often stacked upon each other.
 In addition, the inspection hall is often dark so that the birds are calmer.

8
  If the inspection conditions are poor, the ante-mortem inspection cannot be made
properly, hindering the detection of animal diseases and signs of animal neglect.
 The official veterinarian makes a decision on the basis of the ante-mortem
inspection whether animal is suitable for human consumption and can proceed to
slaughter (see principles of judgement).
 The strengths in the ante-mortem inspection include the inspection of animals, the
evaluation of animal cleanliness and clinical health status, and the identification of
animals.
 Clinically ill animals are detected quite well at the inspection because of their clinical
symptoms.
 Asymptomatic carriers of the zoonotic pathogenic microorganisms are problematic,
because they do not show any clinical signs that can be detected at the ante-
mortem inspection.
 Still, there is a lack of information about some aspects of the history of the animals
clinically asymptomatic presented for ante-mortem inspection. This weakness in the
current ante-mortem inspection system has resulted in re-evaluation of how to
improve the ante-mortem inspection as a part of the overall reform of meat
inspection.
 In the future, the role of the ante-mortem inspection will probably be more important
in meat inspection and the role of the veterinarian as a specialist will be more
pronounced.

1.3 Identification of animals

 Identification of slaughtered animals is important in ensuring traceability in the food
chain, and in cases where there is reason to suspect an infectious animal disease.
 Animals transported to slaughter must be identified and the slaughterhouse must be
aware of the origin of the animals.
 At ante-mortem inspection, the animals are identified and it is ensured that they are
marked and registered in accordance with the current regulations.
 Together with the food chain information, the identification of animals is an
important part of the ante-mortem inspection.

9
  Animals may be identified by either an individual marking or a group marking that
can be linked to a specific farm or other place of origin.
 Individual animals may be marked using, for example, ear tags, microchips or
tattoos. If the animals are not identified as an individual animal, the animals must be
linked to their farm of origin.
 For example, cattle, sheep, goat, horse and pig (sow and boar) can be individually
identified.
 Pigs (fattening pigs) and poultry are identified as group animals at farm level.
 Each slaughtered pig has usually a farm code tattooed on the skin, but poultry
seldom have any specific markings.
 In the latter case, the farm of origin must be reliably ensured at the ante-mortem
inspection.
 Markings and registration can be ensured with animal passports or national
computerized animal registers, or by other reliable means.
 If the ante-mortem inspection reveals signs of infectious animal diseases, or any
other irregularity, measures can be effectively directed to the right parts in the food
chain.
 Only when the animals are properly identified, can their movements be reliably
traced.
 The animal should not be accepted for slaughter if it is not correctly marked and
identifiable at the ante-mortem inspection, or if the inspection reveals that the
animal or its farm of origin is under official restrictive orders.
 The official regulations and restrictions are used, for example, in a case of an
infectious animal disease or when there is a lack in marking or registration.
 In these cases, the official veterinarian must remember to notify the competent
authority and the food business operator.
 If the slaughtered animal is not reliably identified, the traceability in the food chain is
lost.
 These animals are killed separately and declared unfit for human consumption.

Abnormalities
 The ante-mortem inspection is intended to detect abnormalities in the animal.
10
 A general impression of the health status of an animal or animal group can be
obtained.
 Particular attention must be paid to check for symptoms and lesions that may be
indicative of a serious and highly contagious animal, other contagious animal
diseases or the zoonotic animal diseases.
 In addition, attention must be paid to animal welfare and food hygiene factors such
as cleanliness of animals or abscesses.
 Signs of given medication should also be noticed.
 Time should be taken to monitor animals in place and in movement to detect
symptoms such as lameness.
 If possible, an abnormal animal has to be separated or isolated from the others to a
separate pen, where an official veterinarian will inspect it thoroughly.
 With many animal diseases, infected animals are likely to present clinical signs,
which can be detected at the ante-mortem inspection.
 Transmissible animal diseases that have the potential for severe and rapid spread,
are of serious socio-economic or public health consequence and are of major
importance in the international trade of animals and animal products, have to be
detected in ante-mortem inspection.
 For example, the foot and mouth disease epidemic in the United Kingdom in 2001
was first identified by authorities following suspicion of lameness in sows during an
ante-mortem inspection.
 Global warming is likely to bring new diseases to new areas. Many of them are
spread by insects.
 For these reasons, for example, the ante-mortem inspection is an important part in
detecting animal diseases, and in preventing the spread of them.
 Table 1.1 shows the typical symptoms of diseases classified earlier as A-list in the
OIE classification.

11
Table 1.1 Typical symptoms of diseases classified as A-list in the OIE classification.

12
Table 1.2 Some zoonoses that show clinical symptoms and can be found at ante-mortem
inspection.
 At an ante-mortem inspection, animals can have visible abnormalities or clinical
signs, such as abscesses, swellings, wounds, infections, fractures, lameness,
abnormal posture, pain, abnormal behavior, discharges or cough.
 If there is no reason to suspect a contagious animal disease, the official veterinarian
must make a decision to accept the animal for slaughter or discard it.
 If it is accepted for slaughter, it must be considered whether it can be slaughtered
normally at the slaughter line or slaughtered separate from other animals, for
example at the end of normal slaughtering.
 This evaluation has to take into account the welfare of animals and the possibility to
slaughter the animal hygienically at the slaughter line without contamination of the
carcasses or the slaughter line.
 If animals show clinical signs of systemic disease, for example septic infections,
polyarthritis, neurological problems and so on, they are not to be slaughtered for
human consumption.
13
  These animals must be killed separately and declared unfit for human consumption.
 The killing must be done under conditions that other animals or carcasses cannot
be contaminated.
 Sometimes a suspicion of used medication rises when animals have signs of
injections or swellings at the typical injection sites.
 The food chain information should be examined and the animal should be
separated for more careful inspection, and the decision of sample taking and
possible slaughtering should be made.
 The ante-mortem inspection is important in identifying clinical signs as indicators for
diseases that are important to human and animal health.
 In some conditions, the possibility of detecting some diseases and important human
pathogens during the ante-mortem inspection is low.
 In these cases, the food chain information, the earlier laboratory findings and the
earlier meat inspection data, in addition to ante-mortem inspection observations,
help the official veterinarian to estimate the risk the animals cause to public health.

Cleanliness of animals
 Ante-mortem inspection is of great importance for detecting dirty and dungy animals
that cause risk for food safety and public health.
 The risk of carcass contamination by, for example, human pathogens Salmonella
spp., E. coli O157 and C. jejuni, is high in dungy animals, since dunginess
significantly increases the microbial surface contamination of carcasses during
slaughter.
 Ventrally located dirt, especially, causes microbial contamination of cattle and
sheep carcasses during dressing, since the cutting line of the hide lies on the
ventral midline of the animal (Figure 1.1).
 In turn, dirty swine and poultry contaminate scalding water and microbial
contamination of the carcasses increases.
 Greater care in slaughtering dirty animals cannot compensate for the higher
contamination.
 Dungy animals should be evaluated by the official veterinarian or official auxiliaries.

14
  Dirty animals should not be slaughtered, because of food safety reasons, unless the
animals are cleaned before slaughter.
 However, if the food safety is not endangered, slightly dirty animals could be
stunned and slaughtered separately with greater care in work procedures and
slower speed of the slaughter line to avoid contamination of the carcass and other
carcasses, equipment and the facility.
 Unacceptably dirty animals that cannot be cleaned are killed separately and
declared unfit for human consumption.

Figure 1.1 Dungy cows are a food safety and animal welfare problem.
 Dirtiness indicates poor housing and management. The time of the year and
housing system also have effect on the dirtiness of cattle.
 Swine and poultry may be fasted prior to slaughter with the purpose of decreasing
defecation and dirtiness during transport and slaughter.
 This may cause animal welfare problems if the duration of the transport is long,
since fasting animals are prone to stress.
 Farms may not comply with regulations of animal protection, if the animals
produced on the farm are continuously dirty.
15
  In these cases, the official veterinarian must notify the competent authority, because
an animal welfare inspection visit to the farm may be necessary.
 The possible actions are based on national animal welfare regulation.

Animal welfare
 Ante-mortem inspection may be the only occasion during animals’ life when they
are inspected by a person other than the farmer.
 Therefore, ante-mortem is of great value in animal welfare control in general.
 In the slaughterhouse animal welfare is evaluated by the official veterinarian or, in
some cases, by official auxiliaries.
 Where deficiencies in animal welfare are observed, it should be evaluated if the
neglect has taken place on the farm, during transport or unloading.
 To stop the improper action and preventing its recurrence it is important to
communicate the neglect found to the food business operator, the farm and the
competent authority.

Animal welfare on the farm

 Animal welfare on farm can be described by five freedoms:
1. Freedom from thirst, hunger and malnutrition.
2. Appropriate comfort and shelter.
3. The prevention, or rapid diagnosis and treatment of, injury, disease or infestation.
4. Freedom from fear and distress.
5. Freedom to display most normal patterns of behavior. Deficiencies in these
freedoms may be noticed at the ante-mortem inspection, especially when the
deficiencies are severe.
 The body condition of animals, size of the animal in relation to its age, dirtiness,
injuries, untreated illnesses and, for example, uncared for hoofs are matters that
give information of animal welfare on the farm.
 Abrasions caused by unsuitable bedding may occur, as well as abscesses formed
due to unhygienically performed injections, untreated abrasions or injured tails.
 Bitten tails on swine and broken tails on cattle may indicate too high stocking
density on the farm.
16
  Although animal welfare issues can usually be evaluated at ante-mortem inspection,
some signs of deficiencies in animal welfare may be noticed based on food chain
information and post-mortem inspection. For example, evaluation of poultry welfare
at ante-mortem is complicated at slaughterhouses, since birds are held in cages
that are stacked on each other.
 Therefore, poultry welfare should be evaluated based on cumulative daily mortality,
which is a part of food chain information, and defined post-mortem findings, such as
total rejections, joint lesions, respiratory problems and foot pad dermatitis.

Animal welfare in transit

 Animals should be transported in appropriate vehicles, they should be handled
carefully and the transport should be as comfortable as possible.
 Transport causes stress to animals and animals may be exhausted or injured when
arriving at the slaughterhouse due to long journey duration or inappropriate
transport conditions.
 Fresh injuries may indicate fighting during transport, rough handling when loading or
inappropriate transport vehicles.
 Poultry, especially, is easily injured during loading and transport, since there are
four to five birds in the same cage.
 Ante-mortem inspection at the slaughterhouse would enable the evaluation of the
transport injuries.
 Unloading of animal transport is a favorable moment to make ante-mortem
inspection.
 It is possible that finishing pigs and poultry may die during transport due to stress,
which may be worsened due to poor ventilation and overcrowded vehicles.
 In inspection of the animals that have died during transport, the signs of contagious
diseases or animal welfare problems on the farm or during transport should be
carefully evaluated.

Animal welfare at the slaughterhouse

 Animal welfare should be secured also in the slaughterhouse.
 If the time in lairage is long, animals should be fed, and cows milked if necessary.
17
 Water should be available and the temperature and ventilation suitable.
 The handling of animals should be calm and gentle.
 Tired animals should have the ability to rest before slaughtering.
 If the animal welfare rules are not respected, the official veterinarian is to verify that
the food business operator immediately takes the necessary corrective measures
and prevents recurrence.

18