Analysis of Stress Indicators for Evaluation of Animal Welfare and Meat Quality in Traditional and Jewish Slaughtering

Thermal Balance in Male Water Buffaloes Transported by Long and Short Journeys

Transport is a stressor that can cause physiological and metabolic imbalances in livestock, resulting in stress-induced hyperthermia. In water buffaloes, studies regarding the thermal state of animals during mobilization are scarce. Therefore, this study aimed to compare the thermal response of 1516 water buffaloes using infrared thermography (IRT) during 15 short trips (783 animals, 60,291 records, average duration = 50.33 min ± 5.48 min) and 14 long trips (733 animals, 56,441 records, average duration = 13.31 h ± 47.32 min). The surface temperature was assessed in 11 regions (periocular, lacrimal caruncle, nasal, lower eyelid, auricular, frontal-parietal, pelvic limb, torso, abdominal, lumbar, and thoracic) during seven phases from pasture to post-transport. It was found that the surface temperature of the periocular, lacrimal caruncle, nasal, auricular, frontal-parietal, pelvic limb, torso, abdominal, lumbar, and thoracic regions was significantly higher during SJs (+3 °C) when compared to LJs (p < 0.0001). In particular, the frontal-parietal region had a significant increase of 10 °C during the post-transport phase (p < 0.0001) in both groups, recording the highest temperatures during this phase. Likewise, a strong positive significant correlation between the different regions was found (r = 0.90, p < 0.0001). It is worth mentioning that the herding, loading, pre-, and post-transport phases were the ones where the greatest thermal response was recorded, possibly due to the influence of human interaction. Finally, a strong positive correlation (r above 0.9, p > 0.001) between the periocular, lacrimal caruncle, pinna, and pelvic limb was found. According to the results, SJ could be considered a stressful event that hinders thermal generation, contrarily to LJ.

Physiological Stress Responses in Cattle Used in the Spanish Rodeo

Certain events can cause distress in cattle. In Spain, there is a sport similar to rodeo called persecution and takedown, in which calves are harassed and knocked down by riders. In this study, the physiological stress response of calves (n = 260) is assessed by measuring hormonal physiological parameters. Salivary samples were collected from Salers (n = 110) and Lidia (n = 150) calves before, during, and after the persecution and takedown event. The hormones epinephrine, cortisol, serotonin, and dopamine were determined in saliva samples using enzyme-immunoassay techniques. The results obtained revealed that epinephrine and cortisol levels increased during the event in Salers calves, with a significant increase (p < 0.05) in the case of epinephrine, although after the event, these values returned to their initial state. Therefore, this sport supposes an assumable punctual stressor stimulus for the animal. In contrast, in Lidia calves, cortisol and epinephrine levels decreased, with a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in the case of cortisol, which may be related to the temperament of this breed and facing a stressful situation in a different manner. This is confirmed by serotonin and dopamine levels that were altered in Lidia calves with respect to the other group studied. In conclusion, the sport of persecution and takedown produces a physiological response of adaptive stress assumable for the animals.

Effect of different litter materials on growth performance, the gait score and footpad dermatitis, carcass parameters, meat quality, and microbial load of litter in broiler chickens

In the current study, the microbial load of litter materials, growth performance, the gait score and footpad dermatitis, carcass characteristics, and meat quality of broilers reared on different litter materials were investigated. After hatching and sex determination, the chicks were allocated to 3 different experimental groups with each having 8 replications. The chicks were reared on thick sawdust, fine sawdust, or rice hull litter materials. A total of 480 chicks were used with each replicate having 20 chicks (10 males, 10 females) of similar body weight. At the end of the experiment, a total of 96 chickens were slaughtered, 32 from each group with equal number of males and females. The effect of the experimental groups on body weight, mortality, and carcass characteristics were not significant; however, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the treatments in all weeks except the first 2 wk of the experiment. Different litter materials significantly (P < 0.05) influenced the foot health of the chickens as well as the microbial load of the litter. There was no significant difference between the treatment groups in terms of pH, color, and cutting resistance of raw meat however, the water loss during the cooking of the meat and the TPA analysis results such as hardness, springiness, and chewiness of the cooked meats were significantly (P < 0.05) affected by the type of litter material. It was concluded that the use of fine sawdust from trees such as pine and larch containing antimicrobial extracts would be more appropriate as a litter material in broiler production.

Influence of the Level of Sex Hormones in the Blood of Gilts on Slaughter Characteristics and Meat Quality

The aim of the conducted research was to determine the impact of factors such as sex hormone levels, which vary during gilts' reproductive cycle, on the quality of the obtained meat and slaughter characteristics of the processed gilts. The research material included a population of 60 gilts slaughtered in one of the slaughterhouses located in south-eastern Poland. After the slaughtering operations were completed, the carcasses were weighed at the classification stand. The results of the statistical evaluation of the haematological and biochemical blood parameters of the examined gilts showed that, in the tested blood samples, the concentration of progesterone had a statistically significant impact only on the level of total protein, which was higher in the blood samples of gilts with a low concentration of progesterone. It was found that carcasses of gilts with higher levels of the LH hormone were characterized by a lower meat content index by nearly 3%. It was shown that the concentration of LH affected the post-slaughter temperature of the sirloin and ham muscles. The interpretation of the obtained data was difficult since there seems to be a gap in the literature concerning the dependencies of sex hormone levels in gilts and meat quality.

Investigating the impact of pre-slaughter management factors on indicators of fed beef cattle welfare – a scoping review

Introduction

The impact of pre-slaughter management practices on fed beef cattle welfare is a multifaceted and well researched subject matter. Factors such as transportation, handling, lairage time and several animal characteristics can directly impact the cattle’s behavior, mobility, blood lactate and cortisol levels, likelihood of injury and ultimately overall cattle welfare. Animal welfare continues to grow as a critical component of slaughter in the fed beef industry, yet a formal review of related research does not exist.

Methods

A scoping review was performed in order to (1) catalog pre-slaughter management factors that impact fed beef cattle welfare at the time of slaughter, (2) identify indicators used to evaluate the impact of pre-slaughter management on fed beef cattle welfare at slaughter, and (3) gain further understanding of the relationship between pre-slaughter management factors and fed beef cattle welfare outcome indicators at slaughter. Three data bases were ultimately searched: PubMed, CAB Abstracts, and Web of Science. The concepts used in the database searches were the population of interest (i.e., fed beef cattle), the location in the supply chain, preslaughter management factors, and welfare outcomes.

Results

A total of 69 studies were included in final analysis for this review, including studies from six geographic regions around the globe. Studies involving alternative slaughter methods (e.g., religious stunning or mobile slaughter) were not included in the formal analysis of this review, but still merited an in-depth discussion within this paper. After reviewing the studies, a total of 37 pre-slaughter factors and 69 indicators of welfare were measured throughout. Pre-slaughter management factors were then categorized by: animal characteristics; environmental characteristics; handling; lairage; transportation; and water/feed. Outcomeindicators of welfare were categorized into: behaviors; health, injury and disease; physiological; and stunning and insensibility.

Discussion

Pre-slaughter factors relating to transportation and handling, and welfare outcomes measured by behaviors and physiology were of the most researched throughout the studies.The results of this review offer a catalogue of commonly researched factors and indicators of welfare measured during the pre-slaughter phase, as well ast he relationships between them. This review also offers further substantial evidence that a multitude of events in the pre-slaughter phase affect fed beef cattle welfare and a collection of highly applicable welfare indicators to expedite further research on the effects of pre-slaughter factors and the application of improved practices.

The Effects of Preslaughter Electrical Stunning on Serum Cortisol and Meat Quality Parameters of a Slow-Growing Chinese Chicken Breed

Electrical stunning is widely utilized prior to a neck cut to induce unconsciousness in order to improve animal welfare and slaughter efficiency in the broiler production industry. However, slaughter without stunning is still very commonly used in China, in part because there is a belief that stunning reduces meat quality. The purpose of this study was to determine whether the physical (hemorrhages, pH, drip loss, and shear force) and chemical (inosinic monophosphate concentration and reducing sugar content) properties of broiler meat differed between chickens in preslaughter stunning and nonstunned slaughter groups, and whether the groups differed in their levels of cortisol as an indicator of stress. Serum cortisol levels of the nonstunned group were nearly twice as high as those in the stunned group (p < 0.05). Several meat quality indicators were better in the stunned group than in the nonstunned group. We concluded that electrical stunning prior to slaughter significantly decreases the stress caused by slaughter, resulting in both improved animal welfare and meat quality traits.

Religious slaughtering: Implications on pH and temperature of bovine carcasses

The main objective of this study was to investigate the influence of different types of slaughtering on the variations of pH and temperature. Ninety entire male beef cattle, belonging to the Charolais breed, were distributed in three groups based on method of slaughtering. A total of 30 subjects (group K) were slaughtered without stunning, according to the Koscher rite; thirty bovines (group T) were stunned with a captive bolt gun, following the common slaughtering reported by Council Regulation (EC) 1099/2009; other thirty animals (group H) were slaughtered without stunning, based on Halal procedures. The temperature and pH values of carcasses were determined at 3, 6 and 24 h post-mortem, respectively. At 24 h post-mortem of the 30 carcasses evaluated for each group, muscle temperature decreased in all three types of slaughtering. In particular, the average temperature was 4.0, 4.9 and 3.0 °C for traditional, Halal and Koscher slaughtering, respectively. Moreover, at the same time step (24 h post-mortem), muscle pH decreased showing values equal to 5.72, 5.83, 5.81 for traditional, Halal and Koscher slaughtering, respectively. The findings of the present study may be useful to highlight the influence of slaughtering method on pH and, more generally, on meat quality. Additionally, our results show that, in slaughtering carried out without prior stunning, the carcass could be more susceptible to alterations because of the high pH values.

Conventional versus Ritual Slaughter–Ethical Aspects and Meat Quality

Social pressure on increased protection and welfare of animals results mainly from the initiative of people living in the urbanized parts of the world. The respect for the right to freedom of religion, which is indisputably one of the fundamental liberal rights, must be taken into account. The right to freedom to religion also includes the right to follow a religion’s dietary recommendations. The aim of the literature analysis was to systematize the knowledge on the ethical aspects and quality of meat obtained from carcasses of animals subjected to conventional and ritual slaughter. Consistent with the importance of ritual slaughter for humans of two major faiths (Islam and Judaism), it is important that scientists be objective when evaluating these practices from an animal welfare and meat quality point of view. To evaluate the welfare of the slaughtered animal, it is necessary to openly discuss ritual slaughter and the improvement of its methods. The quality of meat and the degree of bleeding of animals do not always correlate with the ritual slaughter method used.

Pain at the Slaughterhouse in Ruminants with a Focus on the Neurobiology of Sensitisation

Simple Summary

We pose based on a fundamental science examination that events that occur around the time of slaughter have the potential to intensify the pain response, through a process called sensitisation, or an exaggerated response to painful stimuli. Health conditions which result in inflammation, injuries arising from transport and handling and exaggerated fear responses may all be present at the slaughterhouse. Whilst there is limited evidence of a direct effect of these on the processes of sensitisation in animals at slaughter, by analogy with the human neurobiology literature the connection seems plausible. In this review we outline the biology of such a response, and the rationale for suggestion of a possible linkage between events at slaughter and a heightened animal pain response.

Abstract

We pose, based on a neurobiological examination, that events that occur around the time of slaughter have the potential to intensify the pain response, through the processes of sensitisation and enhanced transmission. Sensitisation, or an enhanced response to painful stimuli, is a well-discussed phenomenon in the human medical literature, which can arise from previous injury to an area, inflammatory reactions, or previous overstimulation of the stress axes. A number of events that occur prior to arrival at, or in the slaughterhouse, may lead to presence of these factors. This includes previous on-farm pathology, injuries arising from transport and handling and lack of habituation to humans. Whilst there is limited evidence of a direct effect of these on the processes of sensitisation in animals at slaughter, by analogy with the human neurobiology literature the connection seems plausible. In this review a neurobiological approach is taken to discuss this hypothesis in the light of basic science, and extrapolations from existing literature on the slaughter of ruminants. To confirm the postulated link between events at slaughter, and processes of hypersensitisation, further dedicated study is required.

Indigenous Slaughter Techniques: Effects on Meat Physico-Chemical Characteristics of Nguni Goats

Simple Summary

In smallholder communal farming systems, Nguni people slaughter goats using indigenous methods which have cultural and spiritual significance to them. Nguni wethers were slaughtered using the transverse neck incision (TNI), suprasternal notch (SNP) and under the shoulder blade at the chest floor point of elbow piercing (CFP) to the direction of the heart to assess meat physico-chemical characteristics parameters. Nguni wethers slaughtered with the TNI and CFP methods produced meat with an acceptable appearance similar to goats slaughtered with the conventional standard procedures.

Abstract

To improve goat meat quality in rural communities, it is important to evaluate the effects of indigenous slaughter methods used by resource-limited farmers when performing traditional ceremonies on the meat physico-chemical characteristics. The current study assessed the effects of the meat physico-chemical characteristics of Nguni goats slaughtered with the transverse neck incision (TNI), suprasternal notch piercing (SNP) and the under shoulder blade piercing at the chest floor point of elbow (CFP) to the direction of the heart methods. Thirty Nguni weathers were randomly assigned to three slaughter treatments (10 goats/treatment). Musculus longissimus thoracis et lumborum (LTL) was sampled at post-mortem for physico-chemical characteristic measurements. Meat from wethers slaughtered with the SNP method had greater ultimate pH values than meat from wethers slaughtered with TNI and CFP slaughter methods. Wethers slaughtered with the SNP method had lower meat redness (a*), yellowness (b*), and chroma (C*) values than those slaughtered with TNI and CFP slaughter methods. Goat slaughter method did not affect meat drip loss, water holding capacity, cooking loss and shear force. Overall, Nguni wethers slaughtered with the TNI and CFP methods produced chevon with fresher meat appearance than those slaughtered using the SNP method.

Pilot Study of the Relationship between Deck Level and Journey Duration on Plasma Cortisol, Epinephrine and Norepinephrine Levels in Italian Heavy Pigs

The aim of this pilot study was to evaluate the relationship between journey duration, deck level and activation patterns of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical axis (HPA) and sympathetic adrenal medullary system (SAM) in pigs. A total of 90 pigs were examined. The animals came from three different Italian farms associated with the same slaughterhouse located in Bari (Apulia region-Italy). A group of thirty animals was transported from Pordenone (11 h journey); a second group was transported from Terni (6.5 h journey); a third group was transported from Benevento (3 h journey). The animals were transported in the same vehicle, which complied with the structural characteristics indicated in the Council Regulation (EC) No. 1/2005. The truck was composed of a lorry and a trailer, each one divided into three decks. Only the animals transported in the trailer were tested for the study. Before transportation, blood samples were collected on each farm, at 6:00 a.m., from 30 pigs randomly selected out of 135 pigs ready to be transported. Blood samples were also collected during slaughter to evaluate plasma cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine, around 6:00 a.m. A journey duration of 11 h was associated with significantly higher plasma concentrations of stress hormones compared with shorter journeys. This increase was proportional to the journey duration, with the pigs travelling for 6.5 h displaying intermediate concentrations between those noticed after 3 h and 11 h journeys. The interaction between deck and journey distance was not significant on epinephrine, norepinephrine or cortisol levels collected at arrival. There was a significant effect of deck level on norepinephrine levels (p < 0.0001), a tendency to influence epinephrine levels (p = 0.073) but no effect on cortisol levels (p = 0.945). Overall, we observed that an 11 h-long journey seemed to impact negatively on pigs' HPA-SAM activity, likely requiring the animals to spend more time in the lairage facilities to recover.

Evaluation of the animal welfare during religious slaughtering

Plasma cortisol and its metabolites are physiological indicators for stress assessment and slaughtering method may affect their levels, playing an important role in the correct acidification of meat. The aim of the study was to determine and compare plasma cortisol values in animals slaughtered using traditional procedures, which include stunning (using captive bolt pistol), with those in animals slaughtered using Halal method, which does not involve stunning. The study was carried out on a total of 60 Charolais male beef cattle of eight months of age, bred in free paddock outdoors. The animals were divided into two experimental groups, each consisting of 30 individuals, on the basis of the slaughtering method, i.e. traditional or Halal, to verify the whole production chain and to ensure that the product conformed to Muslim rules. Plasma cortisol levels (detected by Elisa test) were evaluated at two different times of animal productive life: on the farm, one week before slaughter (T0) and during bleeding (T1). The 30 calves slaughtered after stunning showed plasma cortisol values of 4.06±1.94 and 43.72±12.09 nmol/L, respectively on the farm and during exsanguination. Conversely, the average values found in the 30 calves subjected to ritual slaughter were 3.26±1.01 and 88.81±41.02 nmol/L. The study demonstrated that throughout the animal's productive life (from pasture to slaughter) the greatest variation between slaughter with and without stunning was observed during bleeding.

Presence of cadmium residues in muscle, liver and kidney of Bubalus bubalis and histological evidence

Cadmium (Cd) concentrations were evaluated in the samples of kidney, liver and muscle of sixty-six buffaloes regularly slaughtered. Forty were raised in Campania, in the territory between the province of Naples and Caserta and twenty-six were bred in Apulia, in the province of Bari. Two aliquots were prepared for the renal and hepatic samples: one intended for the chemical analysis and the other one intended for histological investigations. Muscle samples were the subject of purely chemical investigation. In the group of forty animals raised in the Campania region, the limits imposed by EC Reg. 1881/2006 and EC Reg. 488/2014 were exceeded in three renal samples, which showed values of 1.53, 1.22 and 1.1 mg/kg respectively; in three hepatic samples, which presented values of 0.72, 0.64 and 0.61 mg/kg, and in five muscle samples, with values of 0.16, 0.16, 0.09, 0.08 and 0.07, respectively. On the other hand, in the group of animals raised and slaughtered in the province of Bari, none of the twenty-six samples examined exceeded the limits imposed by the European regulations. The histological analysis showed typical, but not pathognomonic lesions in the renal samples from the animals raised in the provinces of Naples and Caserta. The levels of Cd contamination found in the samples examined suggest that it would be correct to exclude from the human consumption, as it happens for the equines, the kidney and the liver, especially from the animals raised in some geographical areas with a high rate of pollution.