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Outcomes and value of current ante and post-mortem meat inspection tasks including green offal inspection activities

Project Code: MC1003

30/08/2011

Royal Veterinary College, University of London
Alonso, S ; Dadios, N; Gregory, N; Stark, K; Nigsch, A; Blagojevic, B

This study examined the effectiveness of meat inspection tasks (all species) listed in EC Regulation 854/2004. Risk assessment of changes to green offal inspection was also incorporated into this work.

A list of conditions associated with each of the most prevalent hazards relating to meat production was linked to inspection tasks and the frequency of tasks identifying a specific hazard, estimated. An assessment tool was developed to assess the effectiveness of inspection practices and a qualitative scoring system evaluated the suitability of each task.

Results of the initial validation of the tool showed a good discrimination capacity that allowed for appropriate comparison of effectiveness among inspection tasks. The assessment findings suggest that only 20 out of the 33 legally required inspection tasks may be contributing realistically to the detection of the hazards tested in this project.

The qualitative risk assessment for the three green offal inspection scenarios – traditional inspection, modified inspection and removal of the task – showed that for the hazards studied – bTB, toxoplasmosis (sheep), MAP, Salmonella (pigs), CSF, hernia and tail-biting (pigs) – the contribution of GO inspection was found to be of limited value because lesions associated with these hazards are seldom manifested in green offal alone. Therefore, removal of this task would not make a substantial difference to the detection of these hazards and to their consequent risks to public health, animal health and welfare.

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