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| Carcass Quality |
Carcass quality is important in two ways.
It can affect the value of your animals when you sell
them, mainly if your animals have bruises or abscesses.
Second, eating quality is important to consumers, who
want to be assured that the meat will be tender and taste
good.
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Remember that nearly all
animals, including breeding stock and dairy animals, will
eventually become meat and/or will produce other food products
for consumers. The effects of improper use of medications and
improper handling can be long-lasting and often appear long
after we think any possible problems should have disappeared.
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| I. Your Role in Carcass Quality |
| • Preventing these problems will make your
animals more valuable: |
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- abscesses and bruises, because the meat
will have to be cut away and discarded
- tenderness problems, which can be caused by poor injection
procedures
- Poor meat quality, such as very dark colored meat (called
dark
cutters in cattle) or meat that is very soft and loses its
juices (called PSE
in pork).
• These problems can be partly caused by poor animal handling.
• The use of electric prods can increase these problems.
• Meats with these problems are less appealing to consumers.
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Abscesses are areas of
infection in an animal’s muscle tissue. They may be swollen
and filled with pus, but often they are not visible on the skin’s
surface.
Abscesses must be cut away and discarded.
They also affect the tenderness of the surrounding meat.
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Picture
of Eye Round Abscess
Picture
of Top Sirloin Lesion
Picture
of Subq Abscess
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| II. After Your Animal Is Sold: |
• Although you are not responsible for handling
the meat products from your animals, there are some things you
can do with your animals that may help reduce possible food
safety problems with the meat. Keeping pens, feeds and water
clean will help reduce the numbers and kinds of bacteria associated
with your animals.
Reducing the number of bacteria on your animals will help prevent
contamination during harvest and meat processing.
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| Food safety problems occur when
bacteria or microbes grow on meat, dairy products or eggs that
are not handled properly. Some bacteria can cause disease or
death if people eat them. Although food processors and consumers
also are responsible for controlling problems, your role is
to help reduce the number of bacteria that are on your animal
when you sell it. |
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The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspects
each and every animal and carcass that is harvested and sold
for human consumption. Animals are inspected ante-mortem,
which means before death, for any signs of disease. Carcasses
are inspected throughout the harvesting process for signs
of disease in the internal organs (liver, lungs, etc), and
lymph glands; for signs of contamination with dirt or manure
on the carcass, and other general procedures and equipment
are inspected to make sure strict sanitation procedures are
followed throughout harvesting. Once a carcass passes the
inspection process, it is stamped with a USDA
inspection stamp. This stamp is recognized throughout
the world, as an indicator of the safety of the meat supply
in the United States."
Photo
of pork harvest inspection
Photo
of checking temperature of cooked sausages
Photo
of poultry carcass inspection
Photo
of inspection of equipment for sanitation
(Above
Photos from USDA Photo Gallery)
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Copyright
2002 by the University of Nebraska Lincoln
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