Impacto do período pré-abate e do procedimento operacional padronizado da esfola da região do peito na qualidade e segurança microbiológica da carcaça de bovinos.

Abstract

The pre-slaughter period of cattle is intended for food restriction, water diet and replacement of muscle glycogen impaired by stress from transport from the properties to the slaughterhouses. During this period the animals are housed in observation pens. At this point, the delimitation of space leads to a greater contact between the animals, which can favor the contamination of the leather of the animals. After the fasting period, the animals can go to the sprinkling before slaughter. At this moment the water runs down the entire back of the animal, converging in the ventral region (chest and abdomen). This high contamination microbiology of pre-skinning leather can contaminate the carcass during its handling and, consequently, expose the consumer to microbiological hazards during meat consumption. To avoid this type of carcass contamination, it is established an operational health procedure (OHP) that determines the direction and the direction of the knife in the skin incision/scratching procedure and subsequent skinning. The objective of the present study, therefore, was to verify if the pre-slaughter waiting time and the knife direction in the leather scratching procedure can influence the microbiological quality of the carcass. Forty- eight animals from the same property were sampled, divided into group A with 24 animals submitted to the pre-slaughter period of 13 hours and group B submitted to the pre-slaughter period of 23 hours. Subsequently, group A was subdivided into 12 carcasses whose OHP was performed correctly and 12 carcasses whose OHP was performed incorrectly. The same subdivision was performed for group B. The microorganisms studied were enterobacteria, total coliforms, shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC), enteropathogenic (EPEC) and enterohemorrhagic (EHEC), mesophilic aerobes, Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes by international microbiological and biomolecular approaches. There was no significant effect (p>0.05) of the pre- slaughter period on the counts of total coliforms, E. coli, enterobacteria and mesophilic aerobes in the hide or carcass, although in carcasses this difference was 93.4% for mesophilic aerobics and enterobacteria in the group of animals submitted to 23h of rest in relation to those submitted to 13h. Regarding the correct execution of the OHP, there was also no significant effect (p>0.05) of the quantification of indicators, but in relation to the presence of enteropathogens, it was possible to proportionally identify more EPEC and STEC in carcasses submitted to the wrong OHP, just as it was only possible to identify Salmonella spp. and EHEC in carcasses subjected to the wrong PSO. The correct execution of the OHP of the leather incision in the breast region of the animal reduced the microbiological risk of the carcasses for the presence of enteropathogens and favored the fulfillment of microbiological standards of the carcass.