Prof. Jackson N. Ombui
Department of Public Health, Pharmacology and
Toxicology,
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine,
University of Nairobi, Kenya.
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Meat hygiene is the creation of conditions
and implementation of measures necessary to
ensure the safety and suitability of meat at all
stages of the meat production chain.
Effective hygiene control is vital to avoid the
adverse human health and economic
consequences of unsuitable meat and meat
related illnesses.
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Quality assurance is the process of ensuring
that meat will not cause harm to the
consumer when it is prepared and eaten
according to its intended use.
Everyone including farmers, processors and
regulators have a responsibility to assure
consumers that meat is safe and suitable for
consumption
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Safeguard the health of the people through
production, distribution and consumption of
safe meat;
Promote national and international trade of
meat;
Prevent avoidable meat losses and promote
conservation of livestock resources.
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Meat hygiene programs are aimed at
controlling the hygiene standards of the meat
at all levels of meat production chain including:
oPrevention of disease in animals
oMaintenance of appropriate nutritional
level of food animals,
oPrudent use of veterinary medications and
other chemicals in food animals and
observing the recommended withdrawal
periods,
oEnsuring use of appropriate use of
methods of slaughter,
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thorough ante-mortem and postmortem
inspection,
hygienic transportation of meat to butcheries
and/or markets
ensuring the hygienic state of the butcheries
and meat markets,
Ensuring appropriate meat storage conditions
before they reach the consumer.
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Prevention of contamination of meat
Prevention of meat deterioration and spoilage
by controlling temperatures, humidity.
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Prevention of food borne disease outbreaks.
Food borne diseases leads to consumer
suffering and loss of life.
Prevents meat deterioration that may lead to
unnecessary losses
Enhances local and international trade in
meat due to enhanced consumer confidence
Creates employment as more income is
realized from sale of meat.
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Meat quality Assurance is the systematic
implementation of planned meat hygiene
measures along the meat production chain to
provide adequate confidence to the
consumers that meat is safe for their
consumption.
Meat Quality assurance systems are a set of
regulatory and non-regulatory institutions
involved in activities aimed at ensuring the
safety of meat (e.g. the meat Control Act.,
Meat law, meat standards )
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Meat quality assurance system focuses on
prevention, elimination, control or reduction
of hazards to acceptable levels throughout
the meat production chain.
A hazard is a biological, chemical or physical
agent in food with a potential to cause an
adverse health effect.
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Biological hazards: which are
microorganisms (bacteria, viruses, yeast and
molds) and their toxins that may be found in
food
Chemical hazards e.g. cleaning chemicals,
pesticides, drug residues, heavy metals,
allergens etc.
Physical hazards e.g. foreign bodies such as
stone, mud, glass, plastics and metals.
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Food hazards are the cause of food borne
diseases that leads to consumer suffering and
loss of life.
Food borne diseases are diseases that are
transmitted to humans through consumption
of a disease agent (hazard) in the food e.g.
meat.
Considerable costs arise due to associated
medical treatment, lost production, recalls
and disposal of faulty products.
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In addition, outbreaks results in bad
publicity, loss of market for the meat
product, and may lead to legal costs related
to illness or loss of life.
Meat quality assurance system approach is
based on GAP, GHP, GMP, SSOP and Hazard
HACCP system, food safety management
systems and traceability/recall systems.
The GAP, GHP, SSOP are measures that are
required to produce safe food by minimizing
Food hazards at primary production.
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Keep food animals free of diseases through
regular vaccination and treatment.
Prevent accumulation of chemical residues by
feeding animals with clean feed (free
pathogens, aflatoxins, heavy metals and other
toxicants)
Prudent use of veterinary drugs and observing
withdrawal periods before animal slaughter.
Providing animals with clean water and
appropriate housing conditions.
Minimize non-therapeutic use of antibiotics or
hormones
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Facilities must be available for the isolation
and removal of any animals showing signs
of illness.
Pressurized water is preferred to wash
animals prior to slaughter
Animals must be adequately rested before
slaughter for 12hrs.
Food should be withheld 12hrs before
slaughter.
Ante-mortem inspection must be diligently
carried out to detect sick animals.
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Slaughtering should be done on tables or on
hanging rail to reduce contamination by
regurgitation
The slaughtering knife should be cleaned and
sterilized between each carcass at 82°C.
The head should be removed and after
skinning washed separately from the carcass.
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After the initial cut through the skin,
sterilize the knife in water at 82°c and then
make all other cuts from the inside out.
No hair or skin pieces should be left on the
skinned carcass.
No excess blood should appear on the skin
of the carcass.
Prevent contact of dirt from hides and skin
to the meat surface.
Prevent contamination of the carcass with
dirty hooks, knives and protective clothes.
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Do not puncture the viscera (alimentary
tract), uterus, urinary bladder and gall
bladder during separation cuts.
Prevent contact of viscera with floors, walls
or stands.
Regularly wash hands/aprons and sterilize
knives, especially after any time
contamination occurs.
Careless evisceration must be avoided to
prevent contamination of the carcass with
gut contents.
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Carcass splitting
Carcass splitting saws should be sterilized
between each carcass.
Carcass washing
Carcasses should be washed after spliting
using cold potable water and if possible
decontaminated by use of chlorinated water
containing (50-100ppm).
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During post-mortem meat inspection,
palpation and incision of lymph nodes,
infected tissues or tissues with abnormalities
can give rise to cross contamination.
Incision should therefore be avoided where
possible, and palpation of organs should be
minimal.
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Appropriate protective clothing should be
worn and replaced each day or when heavily
soiled.
They should be of light color, preferably
white and be clean and tidy.
Hands and arms should be washed and
knives and equipments regularly sterilized
using hot water.
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Workers must wash their bodies regularly and
have the nails trimmed as much as possible.
Nail polish and dyes on nails and hands
should be discouraged.
Beards should be shaven or covered by a
turban.
They should not move from dirty to clean
areas, but vice versa.
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Workers should not use heavy perfumes,
lipstick, false eyebrows and eye shadows.
Washing facilities should be provided where
workers can wash before leaving and a
canteen where they could take refreshment
and rest during breaks.
Workers must go for medical check-up after
every 6 months
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Proper cleaning and sanitation of the
slaughter floor, walls and equipment should
occur daily and frequently during the day.
Sanitary Standard operation procedures
(SSOPs) for cleaning and sanitation of all parts
of the plant should be in-place and wellimplemented.
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Contamination at the farm with pathogens
and chemical residues
Dirty feet, hides and skin during flaying
Butchers tools (Knives , pangas, axes etc)
Intestinal and stomach contents during
evisceration
Poor quality water used to wash carcasses
Poor personnel hygiene and habits.
Contaminated meat carriers
Dogs, birds rodents and insects that gain
access to the slaughterhouse.
The following habits should be avoided by
slaughterhouse workers:
• Walking aimlessly while operations are on
• Unguarded coughing and sneezing which can
spread pathogenic respiratory bacteria:
• Spitting on hands to enable firm gripping of
an axe, panga e.g. while splitting carcass
• Licking of fingers to pick up items e.g.
papers, utensils, paper towels or wrapping
papers or to turn over the pages of a book
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Cutting of finger nails using teeth or by using
slaughter or meat inspection knife
Placing the pen, fingers in the mouth
Any contact with saliva will transfer salivary
bacteria to the hands or fingers
Blowing paper bags to open them
Shaking of hands in the slaughterhouse
Eating, Smoking of cigarettes, chewing miraa
in the slaughterhouse
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Unnecessary touching of meat and placing of
meat on dirty places
Chewing sweet-gum
Blowing or wiping of nose using bare hands
or protective clothing
Use of mobile telephones
Nose picking and placing fingers in or around
the nose, mouth etc
removal of ear wax using fingers and then
rubbing it on the hands or protective clothing
Scratching of head
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Brushing of teeth,
Urinating in undesignated places within the
slaughterhouse environment
Changing of clothes near meat
Confrontations, fighting or playing in the
slaughterhouse
Placing meat, knives, sharpening steel in
the gumboots
Washing the apron and protective clothing
on the slaughterhouse floor.
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The most significant food borne hazards from
fresh meat are bacteria which can cause
disease in humans such as Salmonella,
Campylobacter and E. coli O157:H7
Some of these pathogens only require a few
bacteria to cause food poisoning.
These bacteria cannot be detected at
postmortem inspection.
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Slaughter and dressing operations provide
many opportunities for contaminating
carcasses with bacteria.
The production of a visually clean meat,
monitored by visual inspection is an
important starting point for meat safety.
However, determination of the number and
type of bacteria present on the surface of a
carcass gives an objective assessment of
meat contamination.
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Further processing of meat can spread
contamination as well as introduce it from
equipment, meat handlers or the
environment, and poor temperature control
can lead to growth of dangerous bacteria.
Testing against a microbiological criteria
provide a way of measuring how well an
operator has controlled the slaughter,
dressing and production processes to avoid
carcass contamination.
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control is best achieved
by assessing meat for the
following:
1. Aerobic plate count (APC)or
total viable counts(TVC)
2. Coliform counts
3. Escherichia coli (fecal
coliforms)
4. Salmonella species.
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APC/TVC is a general measure of the
microbiological status of meat.
It is a measure of bacteria in the sample that
can be harvested by the sampling procedure
used and grow in the presence of air on an
agar plate.
These bacteria include those arising both
from animals and from the slaughterhouse or
meat processing environment.
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APC/TVC include both pathogenic and
spoilage bacteria
Because APT/TVC includes organisms that are
responsible for spoilage of meat, it will also
give an indication of the keeping quality of
meat.
Therefore, meat with high APC (TVC) has poor
keeping quality and vice versa.
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Coliforms are a group of bacteria that ferment
lactose at 37oC to produce acid and gas.
They include organisms in the genera
Escherichia, Klebsiella, Enterobacter,
Citrobacter Serratia and Hafnia.
This group of bacteria are found everywhere in
the environment including fecal coliforms that
are found in the gastrointestinal tract of
animals.
The presence of large numbers of coliforms in
meat indicates that slaughtering took place
under unhygienic conditions.
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Fecal coliforms are strains of
Escherichia coli that are found in the
GIT and are shed in the feces of man
and food producing animals.
Escherichia coli is a rod-shaped
member of the coliform group,
distinguished from other coliforms
by their ability to ferment lactose
both at 37oC and 44°C to produce
acid and gas.
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When cultured on an Eosin Methylene Blue
Agar, a positive result for E. coli is metallic
green colonies on a dark purple media.
E. coli are almost exclusively of fecal origin
and their presence is thus an effective
confirmation of fecal contamination.
The presence of E. coli in meat is therefore
a indicator of fecal contamination.
It also indicates the potential risk of
occurrence of pathogenic organisms in the
meat product.
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These are a group of bacteria that include
several pathogens of significance in causing
food poisoning in humans.
They mainly arise from fecal contamination,
but can also arise from processing
environment.
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The results of testing can be used to validate
whether the operator’s HACCP based
procedures are controlling food safety, as
well as verify that they are applied correctly.
It is assumed that all animals entering the
slaughterhouse have the potential to carry
pathogenic organisms in or on them, and
These microorganisms may be transferred to
the carcasses during slaughter and dressing.
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Scientific evidence shows that cleanliness of
animals at slaughter minimizes the risk of
transfer of pathogens from the hide to the
carcass.
However, a negative microbiological test result
doesn’t guarantee absence of such pathogens
in the carcass as they are usually found in low
numbers and in a small area of the carcass.
Therefore, control measures that reduce the
APC (TVC) , coliforms counts, E. coli and
Salmonella spp. will reduce the risk of the
presence of pathogenic bacteria on meat.
Decision
APC/TVC
Coliforms /E.
coli
Salmonella
spp*
Unacceptab > 100,000 cfu
le
/cm2
> 100 cfu/
cm2
> 2/ 50
carcasses
Acceptable
≤ 100,000 cfu
/cm2
≤ 100
cfu/cm2
2/50 carcasses
satisfactory
≤ 1000 cfu/cm2
≤ 10 cfu/cm2 < 2/50
carcasses
* 5 carcasses are required /sampling session and 1 carcass
represent one sample.