Organs of slaughter pigs as a source of potential risk for human health in the Czech Republic during the years 1995-2002

Abstract

The level of risk for human health originating from organs of slaughter pigs was determined on the basis of carcass inspection classification at slaughterhouses in the Czech Republic during the period of 1995-2002. The following pig's organs were included in the study: the lungs, heart, liver, spleen, kidneys, stomach, and intestines. A potential level of risk relating to food safety of different organs was determined according to the numbers of the organs condemned by official veterinarians. At the same time total number of slaughtered animals was also considered. The trend of the development of potential risk was determined as an index equal to the ratio of the occurrence of condemned organs during the period of 1999-2002 to the same figures from the period of 1995-1998. The highest level of potential risk was found in porcine lungs (at the level of 66.30%) followed by kidneys (18.14%), liver (17.20%) and heart (5.15%). Increasing trend in the development of risk was found for the lungs (index 1.19), spleen (1.16) and heart (1.15). The trends were confirmed as highly significant (P < 0.01). The results indicating high levels of potential risk for food safety and increasing trends in the aforementioned organs of pigs confirmed the importance of veterinary inspection at slaughterhouses and classification of organs of slaughter pigs by official veterinarians. This way the risks for food safety are eliminated.

Keywords

• food safety
• veterinary inspection
• findings at slaughterhouses