Jerlström Josefine, Lind Ann-Kristina, Lindahl Cecilia, Berg Charlotte, Wallenbeck Anna
Department of Applied Animal Science and Welfare, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
Department of Research and Development, Växa, Uppsala, Sweden.
Acta Vet Scand. 2025 Apr 11;67(1):18. doi: 10.1186/s13028-025-00804-x.
The purpose of ante- and post-mortem inspections at slaughterhouses is to ensure that meat and other relevant food products of animal origin are safe for human consumption. However, these inspections can also be useful for detecting animal health and welfare issues. In cattle, traumatic injuries from on-farm incidents, transport or handling at the slaughterhouse are indications of both reduced animal welfare and increased risk of food waste, ultimately resulting in economic losses for both farmers and slaughterhouses. This observational study aimed to investigate the prevalence and seasonal variation of traumatic injuries in cows and heifers reared on organic and conventional farms in Sweden. The study includes slaughter remarks and condemnations from meat inspection data from 336,071 animals slaughtered between 2020 and 2022. Two types of injuries were analysed: "chronic traumatic injuries" (CTI) sustained on-farm and "acute traumatic injuries" (ATI) sustained during transport or at the slaughterhouse. Logistic regression models were developed to assess the influence of production system and season. Results show a higher prevalence of CTI in animals from conventional farms (9.8%) compared to organic farms (6.9%; P < 0.001), which may indicate that animals from organic farms are managed and handled in a way that makes them better prepared for challenges that they are later exposed to on-farm prior to slaughter. ATI were more frequent in animals from organic farms during the grazing period (interaction between production system and season: P = 0.002), which may indicate that animals from organic farms find the transition to the slaughterhouse environment more abrupt and stressful during the grazing period. Condemnations due to injuries were significantly higher for animals with CTI or ATI compared to animals without these specific remarks. These findings highlight the importance of pre-slaughter management, both on-farm and at the slaughterhouse, and slaughterhouse design in improving animal welfare and reducing food as well as economic losses associated with carcase condemnations.
屠宰场的宰前和宰后检查目的是确保肉类及其他相关动物源性食品可供人类安全食用。然而，这些检查对于发现动物健康和福利问题也很有用。在牛群中，农场事故、运输或屠宰场处理过程造成的外伤表明动物福利降低且食品浪费风险增加，最终给养殖户和屠宰场都带来经济损失。这项观察性研究旨在调查瑞典有机农场和传统农场饲养的奶牛和小母牛外伤的发生率及季节性变化。该研究纳入了2020年至2022年间屠宰的336,071只动物的肉类检查数据中的屠宰记录和不合格情况。分析了两种类型的损伤：农场内遭受的“慢性外伤”（CTI）以及运输或屠宰场期间遭受的“急性外伤”（ATI）。建立了逻辑回归模型以评估生产系统和季节的影响。结果显示，与有机农场（6.9%；P < 0.001）相比，传统农场动物的CTI发生率更高（9.8%），这可能表明有机农场动物的管理和处理方式使其在屠宰前面对农场后续挑战时准备更充分。在放牧期，有机农场动物的ATI更频繁（生产系统与季节的交互作用：P = 0.002），这可能表明有机农场动物在放牧期觉得向屠宰场环境的过渡更加突然和有压力。与没有这些特定记录的动物相比，有CTI或ATI的动物因伤被判定不合格的比例显著更高。这些发现凸显了宰前管理（包括农场和屠宰场）以及屠宰场设计在改善动物福利、减少与胴体判定不合格相关的食品及经济损失方面的重要性。
