Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences (IRAS), Utrecht University, 3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Department of Computational Imaging, Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica, 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Poult Sci. 2024 Mar;103(3):103403. doi: 10.1016/j.psj.2023.103403. Epub 2023 Dec 27.
In broiler chickens, fractures of wings and legs are recorded at poultry slaughterhouses based on the time of occurrence. Prekilling (PRE) fractures occur before the death of animal, so the chicken was still able to experience pain and distress associated with the injury (an animal welfare issue). Postkilling (POST) fractures occur when the chickens are deceased and fully bled-out and consequently unable to feel pain (not an animal welfare issue). Current practice dictates that fractures are recognized visually and recorded by the animal welfare officers as mandated by European Union and/or national regulations. However, new potential monitoring solutions are desired since human inspection suffers from some significant limitations including subjectivism and fatigue. One possible solution in detecting injuries is X-ray computed tomography (CT) scanning and in this study we aim to evaluate the potential of CT scanning and visual inspection in detecting limb fractures and their causes. Eighty-three chicken wings and 60 chicken legs (n = 143) were collected from a single slaughterhouse and classified by an animal welfare officer as PRE, POST or healthy (HEAL). Samples were photographed and CT scanned at a veterinary hospital. The interpretation of CT scans along with photographs took place in 3 rounds (1. CT scans only, 2. CT scans + photographs, 3. photographs only) and was performed independently by 3 veterinarians. The consistency of the interpretation in 3 rounds was compared with the animal welfare officer's classification. Furthermore, selected samples were also analyzed by histopathological examination due to questionability of their classification (PRE/POST). In questionable samples, presence of hemorrhages was confirmed, thus they fit better as PRE. The highest consistency between raters was obtained in the 2nd round, indicating that interpretation accuracy was the highest when CT scans were combined with photographs. These results indicate that CT scanning in combination with visual inspection can be used in detecting limbs fracture and potentially applied as a tool to monitor animal welfare in poultry slaughterhouses in the future.
在肉鸡养殖场，翅膀和腿部骨折是根据发生时间在禽肉屠宰场记录的。宰前（PRE）骨折发生在动物死亡之前，因此鸡仍然能够感受到与受伤相关的疼痛和痛苦（动物福利问题）。宰后（POST）骨折发生在鸡死亡并完全放血后，因此无法感受到疼痛（不是动物福利问题）。目前的做法是规定由动物福利官员通过目视识别和记录骨折情况，这是根据欧盟和/或国家法规要求的。然而，由于人类检查存在主观性和疲劳等一些显著局限性，因此需要新的潜在监测解决方案。在检测损伤方面，一种可能的解决方案是 X 射线计算机断层扫描（CT）扫描，本研究旨在评估 CT 扫描和目视检查在检测肢体骨折及其原因方面的潜力。从单个屠宰场收集了 83 个鸡翅和 60 个鸡腿（n=143），由动物福利官员分类为 PRE、POST 或健康（HEAL）。对样本进行拍照和 CT 扫描，在兽医医院进行。对 CT 扫描和照片的解释在 3 轮中进行（1.仅 CT 扫描，2. CT 扫描+照片，3.仅照片），由 3 位兽医独立进行。将 3 轮解释的一致性与动物福利官员的分类进行了比较。此外，由于分类的疑问性（PRE/POST），对选定样本也进行了组织病理学检查。在有疑问的样本中，确认存在出血，因此更适合归类为 PRE。评分者之间的一致性最高出现在第二轮，这表明当将 CT 扫描与照片结合使用时，解释准确性最高。这些结果表明，CT 扫描结合目视检查可用于检测肢体骨折，并有可能在未来用作监测家禽屠宰场动物福利的工具。
