Contact
Valur Norðri Gunnlaugsson
Research Group Leader
valur.n.gunnlaugsson@matis.is
Assessment of slaughter in sheep slaughterhouses in the autumn of 2008
The Annual General Meeting of the National Association of Sheep Farmers decided in April 2008 that a detailed assessment will be made of the treatment of lamb at slaughter, especially during killing and cooling. An explanatory memorandum to the resolution stated: "The meeting considers it necessary to examine the possible effects of these two factors on the quality of the meat. When the animal is killed by electricity, there is a risk that the carcasses will not be able to bleed sufficiently and there is a risk of cooling hardening with too rapid cooling or freezing. Matís ohf. carried out an assessment of the above factors in the autumn of 2008 where the killing and cooling processes in 6 slaughterhouses were examined, of which one house was visited twice. Monitor the killing of 100 carcasses in each house to see procedures and take out facilities. The acidity and temperature of the carcass were measured regularly as well as the temperature in the slaughterhouses of the slaughterhouses. Carcasses taken in this study followed jogging through the normal process of action in each slaughterhouse, but before freezing, the backbone was removed and frozen. Vertebral muscles were then used in texture measurements to see different gravitational processes between slaughterhouses on the meat of the meat. The results show that the killing method affects the death stiffening process. It was much further in the carcasses of lambs in houses that use the "head-back" method than in houses that had a head clip. Cooling time is clearly too short in some houses. Thus the freezing temperature was highest as it was shortest and well above 6.0 in the house where it was only 4 hours. The viscosity of the meat was lowest in the vertebral carcasses from the slaughterhouse, where the head-back killing method was used, electrical stimulation was used and extensive and long cooling ensured that the meat was almost completely tenderized.
At annual general meeting of sheep farmers association in 2008 was concluded that a general observation ought to take place on treatment of lamb meat at slaughterhouses, particularly at electrocute step and the cooling phase. The aim was to see the influence of these factors on meat quality. Matis ohf. visited 6 slaughterhouses in autumn 2008. The results showed that the electrocution method affected the pH of carcasses. In some slaughterhouses the cooling phase was too short and therefore the pH was too high in carcasses when they were frozen. The tenderest meat came from the slaughterhouse where the meat was electrically stimulated and there was a long cooling paste.