Animal welfare in slauther plants and its relationship with cattle meat quality
- Authors
- G. López Martínez, C. Martínez Graciá, G. Ros Berruezo, M.J. Periago Castón
- Issue
- 97A-3 (165-179)
- Topic
- Animal production
- Keywords
- Animal welfare, meat quality, slaughter plant, cattle
- Abstract
In order to estimate when happen a faulty in animal handling that may affect meat quality, were studied twelve critical control points in 130 cattles as indicators of animal welfare in a large scale slaughter plants. In carcasses pH of Longissimus lumborum, Semimembranosus and Spinalis thoracis muscles were determined at 45 minutes and 24 hours after slaughter. In addittion to these parameters meat small pinpoint haemorrhages were studied. This study showed serious problems of handling which affected meat quality, since were found a high relantion ship between some critical control points of handling and the higher values of pH. As expected haemorrhages showed a high association with animals under stressful conditions, pH values were also influenced by season and animal sex according to statistical analyses.
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