Causes of beef carcass and organ condemnations in Ethiopia

Abstract

Carcass and organ condemnations cause big economic losses in the beef industry. The aim of this study was to determine the causes of condemnations of whole and partial carcasses and organs of cattle slaughtered at private abattoirs in Ethiopia. A total of 62,917 cattle slaughtered at Abergelle, Elfora Bishoftu and Elfora Kombolcha abattoirs from February 2010 to November 2013 were used for the study. The main causes of condemnations of whole carcasses were poor bleeding (0.11%), abscess (0.06%), adhesion (0.04%), TB (0.03%), pneumonia (0.01%), Cysticercus bovis (0.01%) and bruising (0.01%). Prevalence of abscesses, TB and C. bovis were significantly (p<0.0001) different between abattoirs. Main causes of partial condemnations of carcasses were bruising (34.11%), poor bleeding (25.59%), contamination (12.58%) and adhesion (9.37%). The prevalence of these problems were significantly (p<0.0001) different between years, abattoirs and season. The main causes of condemnations of liver was faciola (29.74%) while lungs were mainly condemned due to H. cyst (23.01%) and pneumonia (22.68). The main causes of condemnations of kidneys, hearts, tongue and spleens were nephritis (10.91%), poor bleeding (20.83%), abscess (4.71%) and splenitis (2.74%), respectively while heads were condemned mainly due to poor bleeding (18.77%) and bruising (17.05%). The causes of condemnations of organs were significantly (p<0.0001) different between abattoirs or years or both in some cases. From the study it was concluded that the prevalence of disease problems differ from abattoir to abattoir and across years. It is therefore recommended that different strategies should be developed to minimize these problems though the year and between regions based on the dynamic nature of the diseases.