Beef Trimmings Are Separated Based on Which of the Following Criteria?

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Techniques and hygiene practices in slaughtering and meat handling

EQUIPMENT

Slaughtering equipment, particularly for smaller-scale operations, demand not be elaborate and expensive. The amount of equipment will depend on the slaughtering procedures employed. If possible, all equipment should be made of stainless steel or plastic, be rust resistant and easily cleaned and sanitized. Equipment which does not make it contact with the meat (due east.g. overhead rails, working platforms, knocking pen) is ordinarily made of galvanized steel.

Bones equipment needed for the slaughtering operation:

• stunning gun, electrical head tongs or simple stunning equipment for direct blow
• knives:
  sticking - 15 cm sharpened on both sides
  skinning - 15 cm curved
• a sharpening steel
• oil or water sharpening rock
• scabbard and chugalug for holding knives
• meat saw - hand or electric and cleaver
• cake and tackle or chain hoist potent enough to concur the weight of the animal to be slaughtered
• pritch, chocks or skinning rack (dressing cradle)
• a potent beam, tripod or rails two.four to 3.four m from flooring
• spreader - gambrel or metallic pipe
• several buckets
• working platforms
• scalding butt or tank
• pot, barrel or organization for boiling h2o
• bell scrapers
• solid scraping table or platform
• thermometer registering upward to 70°C
• hog or hay claw
• torch or flame for singeing

The last 7 items indicate additional equipment required when hogs are scalded and scraped rather than skinned.

Useful boosted equipment:

• knocking pen
• bleeding hooks (for vertical haemorrhage)
• blood-catching trough
• wash trough (tripe) Sanitation of hands and tools:
• mitt launder-basin
• implement sterilizers

Means should be bachelor to make clean thoroughly all equipment coming into contact with carcasses or meat. Implement sterilizers are stainless-steel boxes holding hot (82°C) water, shaped to suit particular equipmentknives, cleavers, saws, etc. (Fig. 2). Knife sterilizers should be placed in positions where every operator who uses a pocketknife has immediate access. Handles also equally blades must be sterilized. Each operator should take at least two knives etc., one to use while the other sterilizes (Figs 10 and 11).

Failure to sterilize all knives and equipment regularly will result in carcass contamination. Bacteria volition exist transferred from the hide to the carcass and from carcass to carcass (Fig. 12).

TREATMENT OF LIVESTOCK BEFORE SLAUGHTER AND ITS Touch ON MEAT QUALITY

Stress in its many forms, e.yard. deprivation of h2o or food, rough handling, burnout due to transporting over long distances, mixing of animals reared separately resulting in fighting, is unacceptable from an animal welfare viewpoint and should also be avoided because of its deleterious furnishings on meat quality. The most serious consequence of stress is death which is not uncommon amid pigs transported in poorly ventilated, overcrowded trucks in hot weather. From loading on the farm to the stunning pen animals must be treated kindly, and the lorries, lairages and equipment for livestock treatment must exist designed to facilitate humane treatment. Stress immediately prior to slaughter, such equally fighting or rough handling in the lairage, causes stored glycogen (sugar) to be released into the bloodstream. After slaughter this is cleaved downwards in the muscles producing lactic acid. This high level of acidity causes a partial breakdown of the muscle structure causing the meat to be pale, soft and exudative (PSE). This condition is mostly plant in pigs.

Long-term stress before slaughter such as a prolonged period of fighting during transport and/or lairage leads to exhaustion. The sugars are used up so that less is available to be cleaved downward and less lactic acrid is produced.

The reduced acidity leads to an aberrant muscle condition known as dark, business firm and dry (DFD) in pigs or dark cutting in beef. The condition is rarer in lamb. Such meat has a high pH (above six.0) and spoils very quickly as the low acidity favours rapid bacterial growth.

Handling animals during send and lairage

An electrical catalyst (Fig. thirteen) should be used rather than a stick or tail-twisting not only to avert stress but also to preclude carcass bruising. Grabbing sheep by the fleece as well causes bruising (Fig. 14).

To avert fighting, animals not reared together must not be mixed during transport and lairage. Load and unload using shallow stepped ramps to avoid stumbles. Trucks should be neither over- nor underloaded. Overloading causes stress and bruising due to crushing. Underloading results in animals being thrown effectually and falling more than than necessary. Drivers should not corner at excessive speed and must accelerate and decelerate gently.

The lairage should have small pens. Corridors must curve and not bend sharply and so that stock can see a way forrard. Stock must not be slaughtered in sight of other stock. Plenty of make clean water must be available. The lairage must be well lit and ventilated. Do not hold stock in lairage for more than than a twenty-four hours. Merely fit, salubrious stock may be slaughtered for human consumption.

Fasting before slaughter reduces the volume of gut contents and hence bacteria and therefore reduces the risk of contamination of the carcass during dressing. It is commonly sufficient for the animals to receive their terminal feed on the day before slaughter. Stock should have a balance period after arrival at the butchery. Notwithstanding, long periods in the lairage tin can lead to DFD if the animals are restless and fighting or mounting.

Animals should exist as make clean equally possible at slaughter. Producers should wash their animals before leaving the farm. Trucks used for send must be washed after each load and the lairage at the slaughterhouse should be kept clear of faecal matter and frequently done (Figs 15 and 16).

STUNNING AND Bleeding OF SLAUGHTER ANIMALS

Stunning prior to bleeding

Most countries have legislation requiring that animals are rendered unconscious (stunned) by a humane method prior to bleeding. Exceptions are made for religions which require that ritual slaughter without prior stunning is practised, provided the slaughter method is humane. Stunning also makes sticking (throat-slitting) less hazardous for the operator. The animal must be unconscious long enough for sticking to exist carried out, and for brain death to outcome from the lack of claret supply.

Methods of stunning

Direct accident to skull using a club or poleaxe. The blow must be dealt with precision and force, so that the skull is immediately smashed, causing instantaneous unconsciousness. In cattle the aiming point is in the middle of the forehead in line with the ears, where the skull is thinnest. Horses have thinner skulls and are therefore easier to stun by this method. In sheep and goats the brain is more than easily reached from the back of the neck. Pigs have a well-developed frontal cavity so the blow should be aimed slightly above the eyes.

Slaughtering mask. A commodities held in the correct position by the mask is driven into the brute'due south brain past a hammer blow. The device is commonly fitted with a bound which returns the bolt to its original position.

Gratuitous bullet fired from a pistol into the skull is effective but dangerous. This method has been used on horses and cattle.

Captive-bolt pistols fitted with a blank cartridge are effective on cattle and sheep merely non pigs whose skulls are thicker (Figs 17 and xviii). Afterwards firing, the bolt returns to its original position in the pistol. The bolt may or may not be designed to penetrate the skull. With penetrating types the brain becomes contaminated with pilus, clay and bone fragments. If brains are to be saved as edible tissue and then the not-penetrating blazon with a mushroom-shaped head should be used.

Electrical stunning. An electric current of high frequency merely, in the case of manually operated equipment, of relatively low voltage (60–eighty V) is passed through the encephalon of an animal for a few seconds to produce unconsciousness. If applied correctly a deep state of unconsciusness is invariably achieved. Strict safety rules must be observed. Head tongs (Fig. 19) are suitable for pigs and sheep simply not for cattle. The electrodes carried on the ends of the tongs must be accurately placed (Figs 20 and 21). Places where the skull is thick must be avoided. Electrical contact is impeded by pilus and caked mud. H2o or brine will amend contact but the head must non be completely moisture otherwise the current volition take a short-excursion path fugitive the brain. The electrodes must be applied with potent pressure level.

	19. Head tongs are used to stun pigs and sheep electrically but are not suitable for cattle. The electrode on the cease of each tong is ridged for better contact
17. Captive-bolt stunner suitable for cattle	twenty. The electrodes must exist applied firmly to either side of the head so that the electric current passes through the brain causing unconsciousness in a few seconds
	21. Head tongs are likewise suitable for stunning pigs
18. Aiming bespeak for stunning cattle

Carbon dioxide stunning is used only in large pig abattoirs. Pigs are induced into a chamber and exposed to a concentration of 85 percent CO_two for about 45 seconds. Although effective for anaesthetizing sheep, information technology is impractical because of large amounts of CO₂ collecting in the wool and affecting operators on the killing line.

Bleeding after stunning

The objectives of bleeding are to kill the animate being with minimal damage to the carcass and to remove speedily as much blood every bit possible as blood is an ideal medium for the growth of bacteria.

Sticking, severing the major arteries of the neck, should immediately follow stunning. Care must exist taken not to puncture the chest cavity or it will make full with blood.

Cattle. Insert the sticking knife advisedly just above the breastbone at 45° pointed toward the caput. Ensure that the carotid arteries and jugular veins are severed in ane movement.

Sheep. Draw the knife across the jugular furrow close to the head severing both carotid arteries. Alternatively, the pocketknife may be inserted through the side of the neck, though this requires more than skill (Fig. 22).

Pigs. As for cattle just do not go in too far or a pocket of blood will collect at the shoulder (Fig.23). To reduce contamination by the scalding tank water the cut should be as small-scale as possible.

Bleeding on a rail

The about hygienic system of bleeding and dressing is to shackle the animate being immediately after stunning, then hoist it on to a moving rails. The animal is stuck while existence hoisted to minimize the delay after stunning. Bleeding continues until the blood flow is negligible when carcass dressing should begin without farther delay (Fig. 24)

Blood for human employ must be nerveless with special equipment to avoid contamination from the wound, the gullet of the knife. A hollow knife directs blood away from the wound into a covered stainless-steel container without touching the skin or hide. The knife may be connected to a hose to reduce the take a chance of contamination. The hose may even be continued to a pump to speed the blood catamenia. Between xl and 60 percent of the full blood book volition exist removed though this will be reduced if sticking is delayed. To foreclose coagulation, citric acid solution made up with one part citric acid to two parts water is added at a charge per unit upward to 0.two percent of the blood book. The primary sources of contamination during sticking and bleeding include the pocketknife, the wound and the food-piping. The knief should be changed later on each operation and returned to a sterilizer. Cutting the hibernate of sheep and cattle and opening out to make a clean entry for the sticking knife reduces contamination from the wound. If the nutrient-pipe is pierced semi-digested nutrient may be regurgitated contaminating the blood and neck wound.

Horizontal bleeding

Horizontal haemorrhage is claimed to requite faster bleeding rates and a greater recovery of blood. This may be due to sure organs and blood vessels being put under pressure when animals are hoisted, thus trapping claret and restricting the period. Haemorrhage on the flooring is very unhygienic. The functioning should accept place on a peculiarly designed, easily cleaned stainless-steel tabular array which should exist cleaned frequently. If blood is to be saved information technology must not come in contact with the table before reaching the collecting vessel.

	24. After sticking, the animate being should exist left to bleed until the blood period becomes negligible	25. Scalding/dehairing tank which accommodates four pigs: one pending immersion, ii immersed and i just completing immersion. When the bars are rotated the pigs change position
		26. After immersion whatsoever remaining loose hairs are scraped from the skin
27. Simple tank for combined scalding/ dehairing. The tank is filled with water at 60°C, a grunter is lowered in, the chapeau is closed and the paddles rotate, the safety tips loosening the hairs

Bleeding without stunning

The Jewish and Muslim religions prevent the consumption of meat which was killed past any method other than bleeding. Since it is hard to guarantee that all animals will recover consciousness after existence stunned by any item method, stunning is not generally allowed. There are exceptions, nonetheless. Some communities exercise accept low-voltage electric stunning.

Because animals are fully conscious at the time of sticking, ritual slaughter may be less humane than sticking later stunning. To reduce the suffering operators must be highly skilled so that a successful gash cut severing all the veins and arteries is made chop-chop at the first effort. Different communities take dissimilar regulations as to the orientation of the animal at sticking, some favouring a position lying on its side, others insisting it lie on its dorsum. The animal should not be hoisted until unconsciousness due to lack of claret supply to the encephalon is complete.

SCALDING AND DEHAIRING OF PIGS (USING SIMPLE EQUIPMENT)

Scalding in water at effectually 60°C for about 6 minutes loosens the hair in the follicle. Also depression a temperature and the pilus will not be loosened and also loftier a temperature and the skin volition be cooked and the hair difficult to remove. The simplest equipment consists of a tank into which the pig is lowered by a hoist. The h2o is heated by oil, gas, electricity or an open steam-pipe.

To check the effectiveness of the scald, rub the skin with the pollex to see if hair comes away easily. Some machines have the thermostatic controls and timers. To reduce contamination, scalding h2o should be changed frequently, pigs should be as clean as possible at sticking, and haemorrhage should be fully completed before immersion.

In big factories pigs are transported through scalding tanks with rotating bars (Fig. 25) or through long scalding tanks stretching from the sticking point to the dehairing signal in the time required for an constructive scald.

Dehairing is done with a specially formed scraper (bell scraper or pocketknife). If the scald is effective all the hair can be removed by this manual method (Fig. 26). Another simple method is to dip the grunter in a bathroom containing a hot resin adhesive. The grunter is removed from the bath and the resin immune to gear up partially when it is peeled off pulling the hair with it from the root. This is less labour-intensive than scraping and produces a very make clean skin. Subsequently use the adhesive is melted again, strained to remove the hair and returned to the tank.

Another method of removing clay and pilus in 1 operation is to peel the carcass though this is only done when the skin is required for leather goods.

With the simple scalding tank, dehairing and scalding may exist combined in one performance. Within the tank are rotating rubber-tipped paddles which are started later endmost the lid. As the hair is loosened past the scalding water information technology is removed by the rubbing effect of the paddles against the skin (Fig. 27).

Singeing removes whatever remaining hairs, shrinks and sets the skin, decreases the number of adhering micro-organisms and leaves an bonny clean appearance. It may be done with a hand-held gas torch (Fig. 28). Automated systems transport the pig into a furnace and exit it long enough for an effective singe.

Later on singeing, black deposits and singed hairs are scraped off (Fig. 29) and the carcass is thoroughly cleaned before evisceration begins.

SKINNING OF CATTLE AND SMALL RUMINANTS

Cattle

The outer side of the hide must never touch the skinned surface of the carcass. Operators must not touch the skinned surface with the manus that was in contact with the skin.

Combined horizontal/vertical methods

Caput. Later bleeding, while the brute is still hanging from the shackling chain, the horns are removed and the head is skinned. The caput is detached by cutting through the neck muscles and the occipital joint. Hang the head on a hook (Fig. 30). Lower the carcass on its dorsum into the dressing cradle.

Legs. Peel and remove the legs at the carpal (foreleg) and tarsal (hind leg) joints. The forelegs should not be skinned or removed earlier the carcass is lowered on to the dressing cradle or the cut surfaces will be contaminated. The hooves may be left attached to the hibernate.

	32. In the combined horizontal/ vertical dressing method the carcass is lowered on to a cradle, the legs, brisket and flanks are skinned, then the carcass is raised to the half-hoist position. Annotation that this is much less hygienic than verticaldressing on a rail
	33. Note the possible contamination of the carcass by the intestines and the hide dragging on the floor in the combined horizontal/vertical dressing method
31. Right cutting lines for hibernate removal

Flaying. Cut the pare along the eye line from the sticking wound to the tail. Using long business firm strokes and keeping the knife upwardly to prevent knife cuts on the carcass, peel the brisket and flanks, working backwards toward the circular (Fig. 31). Peel udders without puncturing the glandular tissue and remove, leaving the supermammary glands intact and attached to the carcass. At this bespeak raise the carcass to the half-hoist position, the shoulders resting on the cradle and the rump at a good working height (Figs 32 and 33).

Articulate the skin carefully from around the vent (anus) avoiding puncturing information technology and cut the abdominal wall carefully around the rectum. Necktie off with twine to seal it. Peel the tail fugitive contamination of the skinned surface with the hide. Raise the carcass free of the floor and stop flaying.

Vertical methods

Loftier-throughput plants have overhead runway which convey the carcass from the sticking bespeak to the chills. Hibernate removal is carried out on the hanging carcass (Figs 34, 35 and 36). The operations are as in the combined horizontal/vertical method, but as it is not possible to attain the hide from ground level more than one operator is needed. A single operator may piece of work with a hydraulic platform which is raised and lowered as required.

Automatic hide pullers are used in high-throughput slaughterhouses. Some types pull the hibernate down from the hind, others from the shoulders up toward the rump.

Automation of hide removal reduces contamination since there is less handling of the carcass and less utilise of knives. Moving overhead rails also better hygiene by reducing carcass contact with operators, equipment such as dressing cradles and with each other since carcasses are evenly spaced.

Small ruminants

Sheep fleeces can carry large volumes of dirt and faeces into the slaughterhouse. Information technology is impossible to avoid contamination of sheep and lamb carcasses when the fleece is heavily soiled. The fleece or pilus must never bear on the skinned surface, neither must the operator touch the skinned surface with the hand that was in contact with the fleece.

34. The leg is freed from the pare and the hock cut off

Combined horizontal/vertical method

The animal is turned on its dorsum and cuts are fabricated from the knuckles down the forelegs. The neck, cheeks and shoulders are skinned. The throat is opened upwards and the gullet (nutrient-pipe) is tied off (encounter Fig. 41). The skin on the hind legs is cutting from the knuckles downwardly to the tail root. The legs are skinned and the sheep is hoisted by a gambrel inserted into the Achilles tendons. A rip is fabricated down the midline and skinning proceeds over the flanks using special knives or the fists (encounter Fig. 39). The pelt is then pulled downward over the backbone to the head. If the caput is for human consumption it must exist skinned or it will exist contaminated with blood, dirt and hairs.

Moving cratch and track system. The hanging carcass is lowered on to a horizontal conveyor made up of a series of horizontal steel plates, bowed slightly and divided into sets big plenty to cradle a unmarried animal. Two operators usually piece of work together on each lamb performing the legging operations and opening the peel to the phase where it tin can be pulled off the back. When the gambrel is inserted into the hind legs information technology is hoisted on to a dressing rail.

Vertical method

At sticking the animal is shackled by one hind-leg and left to bleed. Dressing commences with the free leg which is skinned and the human foot removed (Fig. 37). A gambrel is inserted into this leg and hung on a runner on a dressing rail. The 2d leg is freed from the shackle, skinned and dressed, then hooked on to the other finish of the gambrel. The skin is opened down the midline and cleared from the rump.

A spreader frame (a bar U-shaped at each end) spreads the front legs to simplify work on the neck, breast and flanks. The front toes are held in each stop of the frame which is then slung up on to a separate travelling claw. The animal is therefore suspended past all four legs abdomen uppermost (Figs 38 and 39). Skinning continues as in the combined horizontal/vertical method. To articulate the shoulders and flanks, the forelegs are freed from the spreader and the feet removed, the creature returning to a vertical position. The peel can now be completely pulled off (Fig. twoscore), including the caput if this is for consumption, though this takes some work with the knife. In both methods, after fleece removal the vent and nutrient-pipe are cleaned and tied off (Fig.41).

37. Fleece removal starts with skinning the free hind leg. Care must exist taken to avoid the hide touching the skinned surface or the carcass will exist contaminated with faecal affair
38. With forelegs in a spreader frame and hind legs in a gambrel, the sheep is suspended in a horizontal position	40. Later on skinning the neck and breast, the front legs are freed and skinning continues in the vertical position with the flanks and back
39. The fists can exist used to clear the fleece from the chest
	41. After skinning the neck, the food-pipage is freed and tied off to forestall regurgitation of tum contents

EVISCERATION

With all species care must exist taken in all operations not to puncture the viscera (Fig. 42). All viscera must be identified with the carcass until the veterinarian inspection has been passed. After inspection the viscera should exist chilled on racks etc. for better air circulation (Fig. 43).

Cattle

The brisket is sawn down the eye (Fig. 44). In the combined horizontal/ vertical arrangement this is done with the animate being resting on the cradle. The carcass is and then raised to the half-hoist position and when hibernate removal is complete the abdominal cavity is cutting advisedly along the middle line. The carcass is then fully hoisted to hang clear of the floor so that the viscera autumn out nether their own weight (Fig. 45). They are separated into thoracic viscera, paunch and intestines for inspection and cleaning (Figs 46 and 47). If any of the stomachs or intestines are to exist saved for homo consumption, ties are fabricated at the oesophagus/stomach, stomach/duodenum boundaries, the oesophagus and rectum having been tied off during hibernate removal. This prevents cross-contamination between the paunch and the intestines.

Small ruminants

A small cut is fabricated in the abdominal cavity wall only to a higher place the brisket, and the fingers of the other hand are inserted to lift the body wall away from the viscera as the cutting is continued to inside about 5 cm of the cod fat or udder.

The omentum is withdrawn, the rectum (tied off) loosened, and the viscera freed and taken out. The food-piping (tied off) is pulled upward through the diaphragm. The breastbone is split downwards the middle taking care not to puncture the thoracic organs which are then removed.

Pigs

Loosen and tie off the rectum. Cut forth the middle line through the skin and body wall from the crotch to the neck (Fig. 48). Cut through the pelvis and remove the bladder and sexual organs. In males the foreskin must not be punctured as the contents are a serious source of contamination. All these organs are considered inedible.

42. When cut through the abdomen wall, if the viscera are punctured their contents will severely contaminate the carcass	43. A portable rack suitable for hanging offal for spooky

44. A mechanical saw speeds the splitting of the brisket simply intendance must be taken not to puncture the viscera

47. A portable cart suitable for catching cattle stomachs and intestines with a divide tray for edible offal such as liver, heart and lungs

Remove the abdominal and thoracic viscera intact. Avoid contact with the floor or standing platform.

The kidneys are usually removed later the carcass has been separate downwards the backbone. The caput is normally left on until afterwards chilling.

SPLITTING, WASHING AND DRESSING OF CARCASSES

Hygienic carcass splitting with uncomplicated equipment

Cattle

Work facing the back of the carcass. Dissever the carcass downwardly the backbone (chine) with a saw or cleaver from the pelvis to the neck (Figs 49 and 50). Sawing gives a better effect simply bone grit must be removed (Fig. 51). If a cleaver is used, it may be necessary to saw through the rump and loin in older animals.

The saw and cleaver should be sterilized in hot (82°C) water betwixt carcasses. Power saws increase productivity.

48. The trunk wall is split down the midline taking care not to puncture the viscera

49. Mechanical saw for splitting the backbone (chine) of beefiness carcasses	51. Carcasses should be spray-done to remove visible staining, paying item attending to bone grit and the internal surface, but without using excessive amounts of water
50. Manus-saws are much slower than mechanical saws though they are preferable to cleavers which splinter bones

Pigs

These are suspended and are split down the backbone as for cattle, simply the caput is more often than not left intact (Fig. 94).

Sheep

Sheep and lamb carcasses are generally sold unabridged. If necessary they can be carve up by saw or cleaver, merely a saw will probably be necessary for older animals.

Carcass washing

The primary object of carcass washing is to remove visible soiling and blood stains and to improve advent after chilling (Fig. 51). Washing is no substitute for good hygienic practices during slaughter and dressing since it is probable to spread bacteria rather than reduce full numbers. Stains of gut contents must exist cutting off. Wiping cloths must not be used.

Carcass spraying volition remove visible dirt and blood stains. Water must exist clean. Soiled carcasses should be sprayed immediately later on dressing before the soiling material dries, thus minimizing the time for bacterial growth. Under factory weather bacteria will double in number every twenty or thirty minutes.

In addition to removing stains from the skinned surface, particular attention should be paid to the internal surface, the sticking wound and the pelvic region.

A moisture surface favours bacterial growth and so only the minimum corporeality of h2o should exist used and chilling should start immediately. If the cooler is well designed and operating efficiently the carcass surface volition quickly dry out out, inhibiting bacterial growth.

Bubbling of the subcutaneous fat is caused by spraying with water at excessively loftier pressure, which may exist due to the pressure in the system or a event of holding the spray nozzle too close to the carcass.

Carcass dressing

The object of carcass dressing is to remove all damaged or contaminated parts and to standardize the presentation of carcasses prior to weighing. Specifications will differ in particular for different authorities. Veterinary inspection of carcasses and offal can only exist carried out by qualified personnel. Where signs of affliction or damage are constitute the entire carcass and offal may be condemned and must non enter the food chain, only more often the veterinary will crave that sure parts, for instance those where abscesses are present, be removed and destroyed. Manufacturing plant personnel must not remove any diseased parts until they accept been seen by the inspector otherwise they may mask a general condition which should consequence in the whole carcass being condemned. Any instructions from the inspector to remove and destroy certain parts must be obeyed.

REFRIGERATION, Treatment AND TRANSPORT OF CARCASSES AND MEAT

Refrigeration of carcasses

Carcasses should become into the cooler as soon as possible and should be as dry equally possible. The object of refrigeration is to retard bacterial growth and extend the shelf-life. Chilling meat post-mortem from 40°C down to 0°C and keeping information technology cold will give a shelf-life of up to three weeks, provided high standards of hygiene were observed during slaughter and dressing.

Carcasses must exist placed in the cooler immediately subsequently weighing. They must hang on runway and never touch the floor (Fig. 52). Subsequently several hours the outside of a carcass will feel cool to the touch, only the important temperature is that deep inside the carcass. This must be measured with a probe thermometer (not glass), and used equally a guide to the efficiency of the cooling.

52. Sheep carcasses in the chill-room, hung on runway clear of the floor and spaced to let air apportionment to speed drying

The rate of cooling at the deepest point will vary co-ordinate to many factors including the efficiency of the cooler, the load, carcass size and fatness. As a full general guide a deep muscle temperature of six–7° C should be achieved in 28 to 36 hours for beefiness, 12 to 16 hours for pigs and 24 to xxx hours for sheep carcasses. Failure to bring downward the internal temperature quickly will consequence in rapid multiplication of leaner deep in the meat resulting in off-odours and os-taint.

High air speeds are needed for rapid cooling just these will lead to increased weight losses due to evaporation unless the relative humidity (RH) is also high. However, if the air is near to saturation betoken (100 per centum RH) then condensation will occur on the carcass surface, favouring mould and bacteria growth. A compromise between the 2 problems seems to be an RH of about 90 percent with an air speed of well-nigh 0.5 m/second. Condensation will also occur if warm carcasses are put in a cooler partially filled with common cold carcasses.

The libation should non exist overloaded beyond the maximum load specified past the manufacturers and spaces should exist left between carcasses for the cold air to circulate. Otherwise cooling will be inefficient and the carcass surface will remain wet, favouring rapid bacterial growth forming slime (see below).

Once filled, a libation should exist closed and the door opened every bit trivial equally possible to avert sudden rises in temperature. When emptied, it should be thoroughly washed before refilling. Personnel handling carcasses during loading and unloading operations should follow the strictest rules regarding their personal hygiene and wear and should handle carcasses as trivial as possible.

Marketing of meat under refrigeration

Chilled meat must be kept cold until it is sold or cooked. If the common cold chain is broken, condensation forms and microbes abound rapidly. The aforementioned rules about not overloading, leaving space for air circulation, opening doors equally niggling equally possible and observing the highest hygiene standards when handling the meat apply. An platonic storage temperature for fresh meat is only higher up its freezing point, which is about - 1°C (- 3°C for bacon because of the presence of salt). The expected storage life given by the International Institute of Refrigeration of various types of meat held at these temperatures is equally follows:

Type of meat	Expected storage life at - i°C
Beefiness	up to three weeks (4–5 with strict hygiene)
Veal	i–iii weeks
Lamb	10–15 days
Pork	1–two weeks
Edible offal	vii days
Rabbit	v days
Bacon	4 weeks (at - three°C)

Nether commercial weather, meat temperatures are rarely kept at - 1°C to 0°C, so actual storage times are less than expected. The times would besides be reduced if RH were greater than ninety pct.

Meat should be placed in the fridge immediately post-obit receipt. Whatever parts which show signs of mould growth or bacterial slime should be trimmed off and destroyed. Easily must be thoroughly washed later on handling such trimmings and knives must be sterilized in boiling water. The refrigerator should be thoroughly cleaned after finding such meat and should also be cleaned on a regular ground.

Carcasses, quarters and large primals should non be cut into smaller portions before it is necessary as this will expose a greater surface expanse for bacteria to grow. Freshly cut surfaces are moist and provide a better medium for bacterial growth than the desiccated outer surfaces of cuts that have been stored for some fourth dimension.

An accurate thermometer should be placed in the refrigerator and checked regularly. The temperature should remain inside a narrow range (0° to + 1°C).

Transport of meat

Vehicles for transporting meat and carcasses should be considered as an extension of the refrigerated storage. The object must exist to maintain the meat temperature at or near 0°C. Meat should exist chilled to 0°C before loading. Meat should hang on rails, non on the floor. If stockinettes are put on carcasses they must exist clean. Meat trucks should not carry annihilation other than meat.

The refrigeration is usually produced by injecting liquid nitrogen or carbon dioxide (CO₂) into the compartment or by blowing air over CO_two chunks (dry out ice). The temperature in these vans can be set up and controlled to minimize the temperature ascension and to avoid condensation on the meat surface (Fig. 53).

Insulated vans without refrigeration may exist refrigerated by adding dry ice. While this is a reasonably good alternative to the refrigerated truck information technology does not allow the temperature to be controlled.

Uninsulated vans and open trucks should not be considered as suitable ship for meat, specially in hot climates. In addition to the temperature abuse, condensation volition occur when the meat goes back into refrigeration, and in open trucks the meat is exposed to attack from insects. Loading and unloading should be washed quickly. If there are any unavoidable delays and then dry-ice blocks should exist placed in the partly filled van.

53. Insulated vans with refrigeration units should be used for transporting meat

Carcass and meat handling and marketing without refrigeration

Where refrigeration is unavailable either owing to fiscal or technical reasons (e.g. no power supply), the shelf-life of meat is reduced to days or hours, not weeks. Slaughter and dressing must exist near the indicate of sale and it must be quick and clean. If carcasses and meat are kept in well-insulated rooms, the temperature tin be reduced with dry-ice blocks, if these are available. Since information technology is easier to chill boneless cuts rather than whole carcasses, hot-boning should exist considered.

Stock must be handled carefully to avoid producing high-pH meat which will spoil more apace. Rooms used for slaughter and treatment meat must exist clean and well ventilated, but out of direct sunlight, dust-free and verminfree (rodents and insects). Hot water (82°C) must be bachelor to clean all equipment and surfaces and personnel must work very hygienically. Receive all claret into sealed containers and have separate skips on wheels for hooves, skins, dark-green offal and trimmings.

54. Processing and packing of offal must be done in a room separated from the slaughter hall or other meat-handling facilities

Dressing on a vertical hoist will minimize contamination by flooring or cradle contact. Allow zero drop on the floor, only into skips. Personal hygiene must be scrupulous. Any spills of gut contents on to the meat should be cut off, but careful piece of work will avoid this. The dressed carcass should be hung on rails. If beef is quartered to facilitate treatment, the cutting surface is at gamble.

Red offal should be hung on hooks. Any offal processing must be in rooms away from meat-handling facilities (Fig. 54). Intestines for human consumption must be thoroughly cleaned and washed.

Storage and transport without refrigeration

Meat should be put on auction within a day of slaughter. If it has to be held it should be hung in a make clean, well-lit hall with proficient ventilation. Insects, rodents and birds must be kept out, grit must not blow in. Trays of offal should be on shelves, not on the floor. Barrows for wheeling carcasses and quarters are better than conveying on shoulders, as they can be cleaned oftentimes. All staff must wear make clean clothing and observe strict personal hygiene. Transport of not-refrigerated meat is very hazardous. If meat is to be put in stockinettes and sacks these must be very clean. Meat should exist on rails in the truck or carriage, and it is not advisable to carry it more than a solar day's journeying before auction.

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Source: https://www.fao.org/3/t0279e/T0279E04.htm

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