Assessment of potential contribution of official meat inspection and abattoir process hygiene to biological safety assurance of final beef and pork carcasses

- Salmonella and verotoxigenic Escherichia coli in cattle pose medium risk for humans.
- Taenia saginata cysticercus and prion in cattle pose medium risk for humans.
- Trichinella, Toxoplasma gondii and Yersinia in pigs pose medium risk for humans.
- Salmonella in pigs pose high risk for humans.
- Process hygiene contributes more to biological meat safety than meat inspection.

The performances of current official meat inspection and abattoir process hygiene in assuring biological safety of final beef and pork carcasses were assessed through risk ranking of zoonotic hazards associated with cattle and pigs that each of these risk management strategies can control. Among hazards associated with cattle, Taenia saginata cysticercus, nontyphoidal Salmonella enterica, verotoxigenic Escherichia coli and prion causing bovine spongiform encephalopathy were found as posing medium risk for public health whilst all others were found as posing low or negligible risk. Among hazards associated with pigs, Trichinella, Toxoplasma gondii in outdoor pigs and Yersinia enterocolitica were found as posing medium risk and S. enterica was found as posing high risk for public health, whilst all others as posing low or negligible risk. Analysis of the current two main risk management strategies in cattle and pigs abattoirs indicated that abattoir process hygiene has a higher public health protection potential than official meat inspection. Nevertheless, each of these strategies currently plays an important role in controlling some meat safety hazards that cannot be controlled by the other, so both have to be applied simultaneously.