Use of exsanguination blood lactate to assess the quality of pre-slaughter pig handling

The objective of these studies (Exp.1, n = 76; Exp.2, n = 140) was to characterize the relationship of pre-slaughter animal-handling events to exsanguination blood lactate concentration ([LAC]) in a commercial pork processing plant. Pearson correlations indicated relationships (P < 0.05) between [LAC] and the number of times a pig jammed, backed up and reared (Exp.1), and [LAC] was correlated (P < 0.05) with electric prod use and vocalization in response to prod use in the crowd pen, as well as jamming in the single-file chute (Exp. 2). Single degree of freedom contrasts indicated that pigs experiencing one or more events (i.e., jamming, rearing and/or backing up) while moving through a single-file chute had greater (P < 0.03) [LAC] than pigs that did not experience these events in both experiments, whereas pigs prodded in the crowd pen had greater (P = 0.03) [LAC] than pigs that were not prodded (Exp. 2). This study provides data demonstrating that specific pre-slaughter animal-handling events are related to post-slaughter [LAC] in a commercial setting.