The aim of supervision of food animals is to

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1 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil High speed slaughter: Efficiency of meat inspection Panel Veterinary Public Health Faculty of Veterinary Medicine Freie Universität Berlin, Germany Postal address: Brümmerstr. 10, Berlin, Germany fries.reinhard@vetmed.fu-berlin.de reinhard@friesconsult.info Birds having been condemned are frequently the tip of the iceberg, individual birds may carry the same lesion and pass the inspection post mortem unnoticed. So, meat inspection may change from an instrument of final approval ( traditional ) to an instrument of supervision/ verification and approval of efforts done by the producer. For this, camera based inspection systems are available and should be further developed. Summary The aim of supervision of food animals is to provide a healthy and wholesome meat without lesions or conditions, which might be adverse to consumer s health or consumer s esthetic mind, hygienically produced and under ethical acceptable circumstances. Without understanding the line, it is not possible to understand and to hinder transfer of agents throughout the line from the feed chain up to the product. An attribution of lesions to particular circumstances is possible, e.g. Animal wellbeing in the holding and animal welfare in transport Pathological anatomical lesions indicating a disease or a technopathy Visual contamination reflecting the hygiene of processing During ante mortem inspection, individual interpretation takes place, in post mortem inspection, fatigue, personal judgement in case of fit or unfit for consumption are a major issue. Sometimes, in different regions seizure is different. Standardization is needed. Post mortem meat inspection serves in the sense of monitoring and elimination, with lesions, inspectors are asked to remove and simultaneously to record their quality (feed back mechanism to improve the next herd or to pick out heavy cases). Concerning zoonotic agents or residues, no information can be achieved using macroscopic examination. The worth of the post mortem instrument lies in the recognition of general animal welfare (technopathy), general animal health (e.g. weight distribution), hygiene (visual contamination, evisceration) or quality aspects (e.g. bruises). Introduction The global role of poultry meat Poultry meat is widely accepted without any religious or socio-cultural restrictions, which is one of the reasons of the ever increase of poultry consumption worldwide. During the recent decades, concerns with poultry meat in the EU (and predecessor organisations) were different (Petersen, 1997), beginning with the need for supply of high quality animal protein, followed by the technical ability to stock high numbers of birds independent of the climate in combination with keeping the animals healthy in such large numbers. Consecutively human concerns (amount of work load, consumers protection) were raised, and finally the environmental impact and animal wellbeing. These days, also animal rights are discussed intently. In 2002, Germany was the first country to grant the animals rights in the rank of the constitution (Cherney, 2004). History or: Meat Inspection in its traditional sense Meat inspection (MI) has been prosecuted 1

2 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil already in early times of human civilisation, be it on a religious base or based on the understanding of the time. During medieval times in Europe, inspection was performed on a low level. In the 19th century, scientific insight advanced far enough to establish a clinical and pathological inspection for slaughter mammals, by then being the only available techniques. In addition and because the farms of that time were small, MI was performed at the slaughterhouse, where all animals were gathered and could be observed easily. This basic procedure was frequently taken over by other counties worldwide. Not much changed then for about one century, which made this type of inspection, in the beginning very modern, the traditional one, as it is called these days. It is, what the wording indicates: Clinical observation of slaughter animals and post mortem necropsy, aiming at the detection of diseases and zoonoses and prevention of their spread. Later on, the idea was extended to other areas, so in the 70ies also into the poultry sector and to the detection of foreign substances (residues and contaminants). Reliability: With development in animal keeping and emerging of other risks such as subclinical presence of zoonotic agents, controversy on efficacy of this type of meat inspection commenced and carried on for years. New Ideas: Integrated Chain Systems The idea of integrated chain systems is based on interrelations and impacts, which were observed between the single stages of production (husbandry, transport and processing) demonstrate, that these stages are closely interlinked and that an impact from different stages on the end product does exists. If these interrelations turn out to be useful in practical performance, surveillance and control can be expanded to the living animals on the farms with more technical (lab based) options of investigation. The other way round, one accident may affect the whole line. So, the integration may contain weak points also: Impact from the farm of origin (litter quality and product quality: Skin) Impact from transport to the slaughterhouse (dead in transport, mechanical bruises) Breed and sex as impacting on the sudden heart death of male broiler chickens Transfer of Salmonella into the abattoir and the spread into the establishment slaughtering and further processing line, lesions may be observed in the abattoir, which will serve as a monitoring aid for farm management and diseases, transport as well as impacts from the slaughter and processing line. In any case, basic condition for systems like this is the availability of an appropriate infrastructure in animal production and the applicability of control parameters. Targets of poultry meat inspection Poultry meat processing has to observe issues of human and animal health, must consider for animal well-being and must provide a wholesome meat/ meat product for consumers (product quality). Important issues of control and surveillance are in particular Foreign substances (residues and contaminants) in slaughter animals Occurrence of resistance Presence/ absence of zoonotic agents Zoonoses and animals diseases Explanation of macroscopic appearance of carcasses as related to diseases or other impacts (technopathia) or damages from post mortem) Interpretation of test results obtained during the life time of the birds Animal welfare issues Hygiene of the processing line including the product as well Worker s protection might be an additional task. This paper This contribution presents sanitary and hygiene issues in highly integrated poultry production chains with high capacity abattoirs under the particular issue of the individual post mortem visual meat inspection (visual, if necessary also by cutting), which aims at the detection of abnormalities of the carcasses and of the organs. The food chain Poultry Organisation Poultry production chains can be highly industrialised with closely interlinked stages from primary production up to the carcass and further on. In particular for broilers, an almost total automatisation has been achieved with line speeds of up to 13,000 birds/ h. 2 Because all animals are inspected during the Accordingly, in primary production we find large

3 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil herds supplying these abattoirs, for which feed supply must be provided. Transport-technology of the birds fits into the equipment of the abattoir, and at the end of the chain; marketing is highly organised with a rapid release and distribution of the perishable products. Management: Logistic slaughter in order to prevent Salmonella- transfer from herd to herd The vertical sequence of the birds through the stages Regional differences: The extend of technology in the abattoir depends largely on the region: In threshold or in developing countries with low labour cost, we find establishments with a lower grade of mechanisation, machines are adapted to that very purpose and the local requirements. In addition, a split market exists in these countries, for export purposes or for the local market ( wet markets ). In these countries and for primary production, we find different structures, too: Local backyard or free range systems and (international) farming technology with far developed housing systems as mentioned. In particular in industrialised countries, poultry meat production is characterised by fully automated machinery including electronic steering and a high level of integration of it s single stages. This way, poultry production is much more transparent than it may be the case in mammal lines. Main stages of large scale poultry meat production are Primary production with depopulation of the stables Service period on the farm site Transport of birds, lairage and deloading Slaughter and processing Further processing (cutting and meat products) Improvement and development: To reach such a high status of integration, in each of these stages, important improvement have been achieved (more still to come), e.g.: Transport of birds in containers (animal welfare adjusted transport) Slaughter line (stage scalding tanks and steam techniques) Evisceration line (design of evisceration techniques which make these line speed possible) Product diversification (establishment of automatic cutting lines) Management (use of electronic identification (tags) enabling individual steering of carcasses and cuts including rapid distribution of the product) Stable and housing technology enabling to maintain a huge density and simultaneously to keep the animals healthy The bird on the farm of origin and during transport: Primary production covers animal breeding, raising of grandparent and parent generations (for meat or egg producing animals) and husbandry (for meat broilers about days and since some years longer again). The number of birds kept in a flock, e.g., broiler flocks amounts to 15,000 to 40,000. Moreover, a farm might include several flocks resulting in some 500,000 animals (even more) on the whole farm area. Fattening flocks are usually kept on deep litter. Factors known to be of influence on the outcome are Origin of the flocks Nutrition The stables Diseases including medication Pest control Environment Organisation of farming (frequency of fattening periods) Hygiene of farming (biosecurity measures) Service period (in the stables) and shipment The term transport covers catching and depopulation, loading on trucks (cages or larger transport crates), transport, unloading and lairage as well as shackling. Having the birds out of the stables, stables are prepared for repopulation. Removal of litter and dead birds (with appropriate composting respectively rendering), would be followed by thoroughly cleaning and disinfection. Such dormancy should last between 7 and 14 days. Especially during catching as well as shackling the animals, bruises and bone breakages may occur, resulting in downgrading or condemnation of the whole carcass. Transport to the abattoir carries simultaneously the risk of vertical transfer of (zoonotic) bacteria. For broilers, either portable cages for about 15 birds or integrated cage systems are available. In such cases, also appropriate buildings and equipment at the farm and in the abattoir must be 3

4 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil available. Before catching, feed must be withdrawn 8-12 h prior to catching. Cages are difficult to clean (decontaminate), edges make it sometimes impossible to remove the agent. Having an eye on the cage washing machines is a central issue, which contributes (as only one point) to preventing transfer. muscle by rupture of capillaries. Bone breakages also occur. To a certain amount, the carcass takes up process water, which depends on the type of processing. E.g., water-chilling, spray or air chilling impact differently on the carcasses. Mandatory limits are available for chilling techniques. The abattoir: The main line consists of three (four) subsections: Slaughterline (line 1) with shackling, (mostly) electrical stunning, bleeding, scalding, defeathering, removal of head, trachea and windpipe, Removal of feet and automatic transfer to the evisceration line Evisceration line (line 2) including cutting around the cloake, opening the vent, removal of offals and separating edible offals, washing the carcasses along the line and final inside-/ outside washing. For chilling, two options exist: Automatic transfer to the chilling line (line 3) and chilling by air or spray or chilling in a counterflow spinchiller system Automatic sorting depending on weight and destination (mostly cutting, line 4). Current technical development concerns electronic steering of the line, which can take into account more easily customer s requirements (convenience products, parts or whole carcass products) or attempts to use camera- aided systems in order to ensure product flow or to detect lesions on the carcasses. Limits are for the particular stages of sampling as well as chilling techniques acc. to Reg. (EEC) N o 1538/91 as amended chilling type water uptake in the plant drip losses air % spray (evaporation) 2.0 % 3.3 % immersion 4.5 % 5.1 % Hygiene Starting with the farm of origin, it is largely the bird which links the single stages together. Horizontally, water, air or personnel have a considerable impact on farm level and during the procedures in the abattoir. In such integrated poultry chains exists a permanent transfer of agents from primary production into the abattoir. Even an elaborated and reliable hygiene programme in the abattoir cannot prevent such a transfer, because effective hurdles or barriers do not exist (Fries, 2002). Zoonotic agents Zoonotic agents may still be present in the Improvement in poultry processing in the last two decades: Stage Position Result Unloading transport modules improved animal welfare less human fatigue conveyors automatic transfer improved hygiene evisceration development of techniques * by hand * using automatic devices * separation of carcass & organs improvement of hygiene chilling techniques counter- current system control of cross-contamination air- chilling reduced uptake of water evaporative chilling 4 Improper stunning (high voltage, too long an interval between stunning and sticking) may lead to increased occurrence of haemorrhages in the premises prior to placing the birds from the herd before or they come in any time during the present raising period via different carriers from outside.

5 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil Kept on the floor, birds take up agents such as Salmonella, and horizontal transfer will commence within the herd. The three solutions for chilling lead to different risk of cross contamination (immersion> evaporation> air) with pathogen bacteria. Identical strains of salmonellae or Campylobacter have been found over days and throughout the line, vertically as well as horizontally, and at several positions, the bird brings in its burden from prior stages. Such events are at present - either an unavoidable part of the technology, or they happen because of failures accidentally. The other way round, at some positions, also the birds get contaminated ( cross contamination ). Over the years, Salmonella was found most frequently in low numbers: Recently in the Netherlands, Dufrenne et al. (2001) detected in most samples Salmonella in numbers of <10/ carcass, which is still comparable to the quantitative data from broiler carcasses (end product) some 20 years ago, where most frequently positive cases did not exceed a contamination rate of <10/ total skin (Fries, 2002). The prevalence of Salmonella and Campylobacter in live poultry results also in the presence of these agents in the slaughterhouse and further on in the food chain. EU: With the ban of antimicrobial feed additives and more to be expected, control of hygiene in animal stocking as well as hygiene in the abattoir becomes more pressing. With Regulation (EC) 2160/2003, the freedom of poultry of Salmonella has been put on the agenda, including eradication of flocks in special cases. Especially in Scandinavia efforts have been made to fight the prevalence of these agents in the flocks, which was principally successful. Spoilage microflora on the skin during processing With regard to shelf stability, the general spoilage microflora and their pattern throughout the processing line should be considered, too. A dense abattoir technology goes without any hurdles for agents, thus opening options for transfer via several carriers. In particular the bird as such is a connecting link between primary production and the processing line, but also trucks carrying the birds or outgoing waste are important mediators. In particular water is used frequently and differently: Transport of offals, during scalding, during chilling or for cleaning & disinfection. However, also aerosols are heavily contaminated, and air deserves more attention, data so far are scary. Surfaces play an important role, too: Contamination and the efficacy of cleaning and disinfection have to do with the quality of the surfaces and of the material itself. Finally, with ever growing line speed, the time for service (hygiene and technical equipment) becomes shorter. Weak points from the hygienic point of view are: scalding tanks (built up of bacterial load, temperature C) defeathering (surface of rubber fingers, which are difficult to control: Plucking fingers with a high bacterial colonisation evisceration (ruptures of intestines) chilling (cross-contamination by water even in the spray-technique) From living poultry downwards, a high bacterial burden would be transferred into the processing line in the abattoir, with consequences for shelf stability and also the presence of zoonotic agents. It is the bird as well as the highly industrialised processing line as such, which forms a specific bacteriological profile on the skin and other closely connected materials such as defeathering fingers or water. The following data stem from surveys in several poultry abattoirs during the years in Germany (using polytroph blood containing media). Identification of the strains was done using flow charts (Fries, 1988, 2005; Fries and Kobe, 1997; Fries and Graw, 1999). Altogether, 1,781 strains are presented here, representing the most important fractions of microbiological associations during the procedures in an abattoir. Micrococcaceae: Most strains of this family were isolated from the skin. During the course of processing, members of this family decreased, however they remained predominant. Also from the feet, in particular Micrococcaceae were obtained. Streptococcus: Members of this genus increased quantitatively and qualitatively during defeathering and in particular during evisceration (at this point of processing, the most positive results were obtained on the skin with the highest percentage of the APC). Grampositive irregular rods and filaments (GPIR): The source of these coryneform 5

6 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil 6 bacteria might be litter as well the content of the guts. Frequently, members of this group were quantitatively predominant in the whole line, in particular during defeathering and during evisceration. Lactobacillus: Members of this genus were obtained mainly from the skin, from the feet and from the chilling water. Most isolates have been found on the skin, after evisceration. As inhabitants of the guts, lactobacilli have been found in particular after evisceration. Bacillus: In particular in the scalding liquid, bacilli have been found. This may be explained by selection of the high temperature in scalding, with the consequence of increasing numbers of this sporeformer in the scald water. Gram-negatives in general: In particular Flavobacterium, Acinetobacter, Alcaligenes and Moraxella were present in the samples. The Moraxella-Acinetobacter group is associated with spoilage of foods. Enterobacteriaceae: The Gramnegative section consisted mainly of members of this family. Isolates came frequently from the skin and from the chilling water. With regard to the number of the isolates as well as the quantitative percentage, this family had its peak on the skin prior to technology and after chilling. Foreign substances With respect to foreign substances, residues from veterinary application, legal application (growth promoters being banned in the EU) as well as substances from environmental pollution are under observation, residues correspond with resistance in bacteria. The general advantage of line production is to get more information about residues in slaughter animals or the avoiding transport of animals to the abattoir, who are obvious not fit for human consumption. The other way round, antimicrobials might trigger the upcoming of resistance, in zoonotic agents and environmental bacterial cells as well. Thirdly, looking back into the feeds chain, disasters with dioxin indicate clearly the importance of incoming goods into animal chains. The epidemiological risk of the presence of residues or contaminants depends on the organisation of the farm (e.g., indoor/ outdoor, feed supply from industrial manufacturers/ homemade or not under control at all). The sanitary issue or: Poultry meat inspection Traditionally, food animals undergo an ante and post mortem inspection. It should be noted, that ante and post mortem poultry inspection is different from ante and post mortem inspection of mammals. Following current legislation in the EU, the inspection of slaughter poultry consists of a general check of the birds in the farm of origin as well as in the abattoir (ante mortem inspection) and a post mortem inspection of carcass and offals after evisceration (Regulation (EC) No. 854/2004). Farmers as food operators are responsible for the product bird and should be informed about the outcome of inspection procedures of whatever type or discipline (feed back of gathered information to the farm of origin). Inspection ante mortem Inspection of herds in the primary production means a mixture of clinical observation of the herd as well as insight into the flock specific health relevant criteria (food chain information), such as mortality rate over the whole period/ losses per week initial number of one-day-chicks health disorders history treatments (including drugs and feed additives) vaccination history. feed and water consumption (feed conversion) average daily weight gain bird weight (individual weight distribution/ coefficient of bird weigth, which reflects the stability of the herd body ) Data are collected and recorded, producers get a feed back. Inspection ante mortem at abattoir level While health inspection of the animals is done in their domestic environment, the second inspection at the abattoir aims at animal welfare issues. Visual post mortem inspection The post mortem poultry meat inspection is largely visual and and would be done by auxiliaries in some, by veterinarians in other Member States of the EU. Inspection aims at Detection of unnormal macroscopic appearance, consistency, colour, or smell

7 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil Recognition of major aberrations because of the processing line Appropriate hygiene of the processing line If needed, sampling for residues by random or in case of suspicion. For that and without delay, all surfaces of carcass and organs (visual) are to be inspected ( all external surfaces ). The official veterinarian (OV) carries out personally: daily inspection of viscera and cavity of a representative number of animals slaughtered, for each shipment of identical origin random sampling of parts or of entire carcasses having been declared unfit for human consumption any other examination necessary when there is reason to suspect, that the meat from these birds could be unfit for human consumption In addition, the hygiene of the procedures is a part of the official supervision in an abattoir. The weak points of current inspection of poultry Apart from the different mechanisation level worldwide, i.e. with more or less fast running lines, the limitation of visual inspection by inspectors is obvious. For zoonotic agents, resistance genes, foreign substances, the traditional ante and post mortem type of meat inspection fails almost completely, and the recognition of lesions is hampered by line speeds as already indicated. In addition, ante mortem inspection has to take into account the status of the complete herd with high numbers of birds and post mortem the inspection of every single bird piece by piece. Concerning interpretation of findings, lesions observed during post mortem inspection may differ widely with regard to character, intensity, extension, location, thus offering a huge diversity from bird to bird. Discussion or: Ways out of the dilemma The meaning of lesions We do not always know the meaning (and the causative background) of lesions observed. Thus, removal of carcasses from the line as unfit remains somewhat superficial and arbitrary. In a few cases, an assessment of the lesions with respect to the level of danger/ risk to humans, animals or the environment has been performed. Bisaillon et al. (2001) classified 143 grossly detectable abnormalities and conditions (GDAC) with respect to their risk for consumers. Results clearly indicate a need for more analysis on this field of inspection: Potential of human concern not known (n=46) The agent not being associated with human diseases (n=47) The agent not yet identified (n=3) Risk Management-Options needed (n=37; in particular chemical contaminants) Lesions obtained during poultry meat inspection: What do they reflect? The list of lesions, which are frequently obtained during visual post mortem inspection of broiler herds, offers different explanations and different risk levels as well: animal welfare parameters in the holding (food pad dermatitis, litter burns, outcome of beak trimming) or in transport diseases or hygiene in the holding (coefficient of variance of weights indicating different growth speed, infections of the herd cannot be excluded) pathological anatomical lesions indicating a disease or technopathy ruptures, bone breakings indicating failures in the technical procedure mostly ante mortem - Small animals high variation (s%) indicating an infection of the herd - Abnormal shape feed imbalances - Scabby skin technopathy (coccidiostats) - Bursitis sternalis litter quality - Incomplete exsanguination dead on arrival or septicaemia - Fractures technopathy (from catching) - Deep dermatitis frequently Gramnegatives, E. coli - Ascites breed, environment or infectious - Ruptures technopathy (from catching) 7

8 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil 8 - Inflammation of the cavity different agents, e.g. Ornithobacterium, E.coli) It is important to note the infectious or mechanical character of a lesion, the frequency of a lesion (herd or individual) and finally the location of an observation with consequences for seizure decisions. Not only lesions caused by diseases, also unappropriate conditions in the holding (technopathy), during transport (animal welfare) or at stunning may be observed and appropriate measures should be taken. Infective vs. mechanical damage and the state of generalisation In case of an infection, and based on the judgement requirements of Reg. (EC) 854/2004, a decision is necessary on the generalisation character of the lesion. In case of a generalisation, the carcass should be condemned. The flock vs. the individual bird Post mortem inspection concentrates on the individual inspection and decides on an individual base. However, in many cases, reasons of a lesion are not known or an assessment has not yet been performed. The other way round, in case of a flock being infected with an agent, lesions may reflect such an infection at herd level, leaving herd based decisions open. Unspecific lesions are the majority of condemnations. In case of the presence of a nonhuman-pathogen, such an infection may alter the body condition that severely, that the carcass ends up condemned. Mostly, the causative agent cannot be identified. In case of a notifiable disease (OIE list), there is no need for individual judgement: In such cases, the herd as such undergoes the legal consequences. Unfitness of parts of the carcass or: The grey zone between fit and unfit Biological material differs widely. In post-mortem inspection, seizure is not that easy, precise criteria are lacking, definitions are needed. Even in herds being basically healthy, lesions do occur, some of them frequently. Seizure depends on the nature of a lesion, it s extension, the intensity of the lesion as well. Also the localization on the carcass is an important factor, which must be considered during the inspection, too. A particular lesion cannot be considered without the background against the whole herd, e.g. the lowest weight which should pass the inspection depends on the age of the herd (with increasing age, the weight increases) as well as the distribution of the weight (following the Gauss distribution curve). Also the percentage of a lesion in a herd should be taken into account. It is possible to declare certain parts of the slaughtered animals as unfit, if the other parts appear as expected and experience says that all aspects of quality are provided. In case of such a local damage, the local lesion goes as condemned. This may be true also for a localised infection. As an example, investigations with turkeys suffering from cavity inflammations revealed, that the process was localised to the cavity (Fries et al., 2005). Based on these results, in case of aersacculitis, the decision should depend on macroscopic lesions exclusively. Personnel in post mortem poultry meat inspection A heavy burden is laid on the personnel during meat inspection: Separation of viscera and carcass, inspection of the backside of the carcass (using mirrors) and high speed lines leave the human eye unprotected and unsupported. The lines with sophisticated machinery make high speeds possible, however, efficacy and reliability of the inspection remains open, even with line dividers, which allow the inspection only of every second carcass. Efficacy of visual inspection by personnel Following several reports on visual inspection, a complete elimination of lesions from the processing line is not possible. This relates to different line speeds as well as to the individual assessment of the same lesion by different persons (Fries et al., 1992; Fries and Kobe, 1993). So, it may come to either false-positive (fit for consumption but condemned) as well as falsenegative (to be condemned but fit for consumption) Seizure of Broilers Results from Meat Inspection and Re- Inspection of the same Carcasses based on Data Sheets by other Teams (Fries and Kobe, 1993) Results of Meat Inspection Done during Re-Inspection Percentage of Identical Judgement total fit condemned fit condemned total 19,632 14,400 5, % 57.0% 84.4%

9 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil results of inspection. With growing line speed in poultry processing, we must realise the limits of visual inspection done by human beings. The alternative: Computer aided camera systems Visual work done by inspectors is tiring because of the high speed of the line. Because of the similarity of the carcasses to be presented, inspectors might overlook lesions. With growing line speed in poultry processing, we must realise the limits of visual inspection done by human beings. This prompts the search for reliable auxiliary systems, and camera based systems (in line and real time equipment) already exist, depending on the purpose, with different wavelengths from visual to infrared). In poultry processing, three main purposes can already be achieved with machines: quality assessment and steering acc. to internal quality politics of the company or meeting customer s demands Lesions important for meat inspection purposes or for quality control according to customers demands (Park and Chen, 2000; Van Hoof and Ectors, 2002) Contaminants: Visible indicators of fecal contamination, which may reflect a higher risk of Salmonella presence in the unit and which may used as index- factor (Lawrence et al., 2002; Thornton, 2004) Pathology ( Veterinary sanitary function): Watkins et al. (1999) reported false positive (i.e. condemned) carcasses in a percentage of 4-5 %. In addition, the authors stressed the extreme conditions during cleaning and disinfection, which had impact on the camera systems also. Van Hoof and Ectors (2002) evaluated a vision system in practical work in a poultry processing plant. With some lesions the system worked well, with some the authors reported detection to be difficult. Reviews on the issue were presented by v.d.sluis (1991) and Fries (2003). In all, following lesions have been reported to be detectable: Underweight carcasses Discolorations Abnormal shape of the carcasses Injuries According to Watkins et al. (1999), US- FSIS considers the replacement of visual control by automatic inspection technology; Personnel could then concentrate on other aspects such as HACCP or the reduction of pathogen microorganisms. A system of visual checking of carcasses is needed not only to detect lesions, but also to keep records on the number and the character of lesions in a herd. Monitoring lesions from a particular holding reliably is only possible using automatic processing aids, which also helps to keep the costs under control. Preventive measures ( Good Practices ) and the change of inspection functions Several options of compensating the high speed lines especially in broiler production do exist: Along the poultry meat chain, 4 lines of defense may be used to protect the line from zoonotic agents or foreign substances: 1 st : The holding: Prevent infectious/ zoonotic agents through control of access or through prudent use of therapeuticals ( biosecurity ) 2 nd : Meat production lines (abattoir level): Design of machinery including elements of management ( hygiene ) 3 rd : Processing: Meat technology and their impact on microbial colonisation, serving as hurdles 4 th : Retail as well as preparation of meals in mass catering, adequate storage or home based prevention Preventive measures have different purposes: Prevention of diseases in the herd (biosecurity) in order to keep lesions under control Biosecurity/biocontainment measures against zoonotic agents Good Husbandry Practice in order to avoid technical failures in the holding and consecutively the occurrence of technopathy on the carcassdes during post mortem inspection. Lesions also increase elimination work during post mortem inspection done by inspectors. Improvement of the line technology in order to prevent technical failure which would also cause increased elimination work during processing of the slaughtered birds Development of new methods on the field of inspection itself: Currently, we observe most frequently traditional compensation aids such as mirrors from the other side of the line, line dividers or the implementation of company staff (which in itself bears the same limitation problem of inspector s dilemma during visual inspection). Alternative solutions would be computer aided camera systems. Concerning zoonotic agents or residues, no information can be achieved using macroscopic examination. Here, sampling 9

10 XXIV World s Poultry Congress 5-9 August Salvador - Bahia - Brazil and lab analysis during the lifetime of the herd is needed. Biosecurity in primary production Biosecurity has been described as protective measures against risks from diseases or agents (Gunn et al., 2008). Biosecurity programmes are designed to minimise flock contact or contamination from humans, other flocks, wild birds or other animals, pets, feeds not provided by the contracting company, unsafe water or contaminated equipment (NACMCF, 1997). At farm level, several keystones of biosecurity have been identified, which may serve as a structure for appropriate standard operation procedures (SOP), including observation of circuits in the farm, i.e. the black and white concept. Keystones of biosecurity on farm level (Fries, 2010): The area as such (distribution of buildings allocating main parts of the area to black or white zones) Buildings and facilities with separate premises including control of transfer Management of keeping the herds including appropriate hygiene measures Service period between stocking the herds (and with appropriate treatment of surfaces) Performance of cleaning and disinfection Technology of bedding (origin, use, discard and control) Feed and water as vectors, feeding strategies prior to transport Humans as carriers (preventive measures with regard to movements within the area) Transport vehicles and their role in transmission (also within the area) Veterinary measures, prevention of transfer from farm to farm ante and post mortem inspection. So, a recording system of reasons for rejection of birds from the herd is needed: compilation of a list including definitions recording of condemnation feed back to the farmer. The worth of multidisciplinary instruments like this lies in the framework of general animal welfare (technopathy), general animal health (e.g. weight distribution), hygiene (visual contamination, evisceration) and quality aspects (e.g. bruises). References References may be obtained from the author. 10 Verification measures at several stages with different methods Having implemented such Good Practices, they need verification. So, prevention gives sense only, when verification measures are in place, too. Collection of information by use of records, questionnaires and self declaration on different issues from the farm level is mandatory for the food chain information practice acc. to Reg. (EC) 854/2004 as amended by other regulations following the 2004 regulation. Such data need to be gathered and then should go into a construction of network surveillance, i.e., data from the food chain, from the direct herd observation (at the farm or in the abattoir) i.e., from