Original Scientific Article
The impact of cattle hide cleanliness scores on microbial contamination of carcasses during slaughtering
Buket Kallem ,
Pelin Koçak Kizanlik ,
Cemil Şahiner ,
Ergün Ömer Göksoy *

Mac Vet Rev 2022; 45 (1): 43 - 51

10.2478/macvetrev-2022-0012

Received: 28 July 2021

Received in revised form: 04 January 2022

Accepted: 20 January 2022

Available Online First: 11 February 2022

Published on: 15 March 2022

Correspondence: Ergün Ömer Göksoy, eogoksoy@adu.edu.tr
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Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effects of cleanliness scoring on the microbiological load of hide and the final contamination of cattle carcasses. Fifty cattle were classified from 1 (clean and dry) to 5 (filthy and wet). Aerobic colony count (ACC) and counts of Enterobacteriaceae (EC) and E. coli (ECC) were determined on the brisket, abdominal midline, rump, groin sites of the hides, and brisket, flank, groin, and hock of the carcasses. On hides, ACC ranged from 3.15±0.13 log cfu/cm2 in category 1 to 8.14±0.21 log cfu/cm2 in category 5. EC and ECC were ranging between 1.13±0.07 and 2.80±0.09 log cfu/cm2, and 1.21±0.05 and 2.15±0.07 log cfu/cm2, respectively. While the mean ACC on the carcasses ranged between 2.18±0.07 and 2.63±0.05 log cfu/cm2 irrespective of the categories, Enterobacteriaceae and E. coli could not be counted due to the detection limits. It was concluded that although the level of bacterial load increased significantly (P<0.001) with the increasing cleanliness category on the hide of the animals, the reflection of this increasing trend on carcasses and different parts of the carcasses were inconsistent and the hygiene provided in the slaughterhouse and processing line was the main factor to reduce cross-contamination during processing.

Keywords: cleanliness scoring, cattle carcass, cross-contamination, hide cleanliness, microbial load

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Copyright

© 2022 Kallem B. This is an open-access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Citation Information

Macedonian Veterinary Review. Volume 45, Issue 1, Pages 43-51, e-ISSN 1857-7415, p-ISSN 1409-7621, DOI: 10.2478/macvetrev-2022-0012, 2022

The all content of the Macedonian Veterinary Review, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.