There are various slaughter methodologies.

9 SUMMARY

Although meat from beef and sheep are subject to strict quality controls, they undergo a series of manipulations during the passage from abattoirs to dissection, to wholesale suppliers and, finally, to butcher’s shops, where meat is sold to the end-consumer.

Food total contamination is the result of the sum of the primary contamination of raw materials and of the secondary contamination due to the manipulation it has suffered during the transformation process. In order to get a good-quality product, total contamination has to be controlled since the initial stages of this process.

There are various slaughter methodologies.

In Italy, animals are stunned and then they are jugulated with two knifes: the first one is used to cut external tissues, while the second one cuts off big blood vessels, leaving out the trachea and the esophagus.

Owing to the immigration of Arabian an North African communities, the Italian State allows other slaughter methods that conform to their religious rituals.

The object of this research is to see if there is a difference between the two methods relating to the bacterial contamination of the final products and to the abattoirs hygienic conditions.

Bacterial contamination has been also analysed from the point of view of the species that are more easily recognisable in the two methods and, in particular, Enterobacteriaceae, E. coli, coagulase positive Staphilococci, Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp. In addition, total bacteria charge has been calculated in order to calculate the whole of the contamination.

The data have been compared in order to find a possible relationship

between the air, the surfaces and the carcasses during the slaughter

process, and it has also been demonstrated that this process has been

10 performed according to the hygiene and sanification protocols which are adopted from abattoirs.

In the operative stage of this study, surface swabs have been performed on the carcasses of the animals that have been slaughtered during the precooling process in conformity with the Reg. CE n. 2073/05, (ISO 17604:2003); swabs and contact-plates have been performed on tools and on abattoirs according to ISO 18593:2004 during the slaughtering and the sanitization processes; an air sample has been taken with the adeguate instrumentation; a special kit (Bluestar

) has been used for the gathering of hematic trails on the examined surfaces.

These samples have been taken in the abattoirs which have the CEE certificate of the province of Lucca, two of which are dedicated to the slaughter in sheep and two of them to the slaughter in beef.

Here are the results of this study:

• From a microbiological point of view, sheep carcasses are usually more contaminated than beef carcasses;

• The two slaughter methods are characterised by different microbiological contaminations: in particular, the islamic ritual procedure shows the presence of Enterobacteria, E.coli and coagulase positive Staphilococci. However, the total bacteria charge is almost the same;

• The chance of a Salmonella spp. or a Listeria spp. contamination is close to zero in any case;

• The contamination of the air and the rooms is generally influenced by the nature of the slaughter method and by the animals involved in the process (it is particularly evident in the islamic slaughter in sheep);

• The way in which the total bacteria charge affects the hygiene of

the carcasses varies according to the slaughter method which has

11 been followed: the results of the study confirm that the air mainly influences the sheep carcasses deriving from a traditional slaughter;

• The hygiene and sanification protocols that have been adopted are usually effective; nevertheless, residual bacterial contamination and trails of blood can be spotted in some places which can hardly be reached or on tools that are difficult to clean.

However, the carcasses – even though they show different degrees of contamination – prove to be acceptable for the Reg. CE 2073/05, and they are not dangerous for the health of the consumer.

The increase of the immigrant population, and a consequent greater

demand of “Halal” meat, could lead to the phenomenon observed in the

traditional sheep slaughtering and to the introduction of contaminated

carcasses, exceeding the normative limits.