Due to concerns about a link between variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in humans and similar prion protein-induced disease in cattle, i.e., bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), strict controls are in place to exclude BSE-positive animals and/or specified risk materials including bovine central nervous system (CNS) tissue from the human food chain. However, current slaughter practice, using captive bolt guns, may induce disruption of brain tissues and mobilize CNS tissues into the bovine circulatory system, leading to the dispersion of CNS tissues (including prion proteins) throughout the derived carcass. This project used a marker (antibiotic-resistant) strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens to model the effects of commercial captive bolt stunning procedures on the movement of mobilized CNS material within slaughtered animals and the abattoir environment. The marker organism, introduced by injection through the bolt entry aperture or directly using a cartridge-fired captive bolt, was detected in the slaughter environment immediately after stunning and in the abattoir environment at each subsequent stage of the slaughter-dressing process. The marker organism was also detected on the hands of operatives; on slaughter equipment; and in samples of blood, organs, and musculature of inoculated animals. There were no significant differences between the results obtained by the two inoculation methods (P < 0.05). This study demonstrates that material present in, or introduced into, the CNS of cattle during commercial captive bolt stunning may become widely dispersed across the many animate and inanimate elements of the slaughter-dressing environment and within derived carcasses including meat entering the human food chain.
Aims: The aim of this study was to use a marked strain of Pseudomonas fluorescens to model the spread of central nervous system (CNS) tissue in cattle following captive bolt stunning. Methods and Results: The marked organism was introduced by injection through the captive bolt aperture immediately after stunning and was subsequently detected in a wide range of derived tissues, including blood, organs, and the musculature of the entire forequarters of test animals. This was dependent on the use of high concentrations of the organism that were recovered sufficiently and rapidly to minimize the bactericidal properties of the circulatory system. These results suggest that a marked organism could potentially be used to model the effects of captive bolt stunning on the dissemination of CNS tissue from the brain.
Conclusions:These results indicate that current commercial methods of captive bolt stunning may induce widespread and significant mobilization of CNS tissue within beef carcasses. This may lead to the widespread dissemination of such materials within meat destined for human consumption. Significance and Impact of the Study: In the absence of rapid, simple and sufficiently sensitive methods for the direct detection of prion in commercially slaughtered animals, marked organisms can provide useful models in studies of the dissemination kinetics of prion disease in captive bolt stunned animals.
This paper focuses on bra damage, specifically damage observed in hook and eye fasteners that are generally located at the backstraps of bras. We describe bra design including the method by which hook and eye fasteners are generally constructed. We assess bra damage in two situations where the damage observed was unexpected given the case scenarios. These were: (i) the complainant of an alleged rape attributed damage to her bra hooks to force during a struggle and (ii) the complainant had earlier manipulated her bra hooks in an incident not related to her complaint. Steriomicroscopy and reconstruction experimentation were necessarily used to assess the bra damage. A systematic approach to damage analysis was employed by the forensic practitioners to correctly identify damage as being a result of mechanical manipulation and therefore as falsified. This paper suggests that more examples of falsified damage should be documented.
Sponge samples were taken from the carcases, meat, personnel and surfaces involved in stunning, slaughter and dressing/boning activities at three abattoirs, and from retail beef products. The samples were examined for the presence of central nervous system (CNS)-specific proteins (syntaxin 1B and/or glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), as indicators of contamination with CNS tissue. Syntaxin 1B and GFAP were detected in many of the sponge samples taken along the slaughter line and in the chill rooms of all three abattoirs; GFAP was also detected in one sample of longissimus muscle (striploin) taken in the boning hall of one of the abattoirs but not in the other two abattoirs or in retail meats.
Aims: To assess the detection and recovery rates achieved with commonly used cultural methods for the enumeration and recovery of Escherichia coli O157:H7 from minced beef and bovine hide. Methods and Results: Minced beef and bovine hide were inoculated with varying concentrations (log 10 1AE58-2AE58 CFU g)1 and log 10 2AE42-4AE49 CFU 100 cm 2 respectively) of E. coli O157:H7 and recovered using a direct plate method or an enrichment/immunomagnetic separation (IMS) method and then plated onto SMAC or SMAC-CT in both cases. The direct plate method detected the pathogen consistently from minced beef samples with an average recovery of 69AE2-91AE2%. From faecal material on the bovine hide the recovery of the pathogen ranged from 1AE80 to 64AE5% with fresh faeces depending on the inocula while from dried faeces on hide the results ranged from no recovery at all to 25AE1%. Enrichment/IMS recovered E. coli O157:H7 at all inocula levels tested in minced beef while the pathogen was only detected consistently at an average inocula level of log 10 2AE73 CFU 100 cm 2 from fresh faeces and log 10 4AE49 CFU 100 cm 2 from dried faeces on bovine hide. Conclusions: The direct count enumeration method for E. coli O157:H7 underestimated the numbers of pathogens present. The enrichment/IMS procedure consistently detected the pathogen from minced beef but did not always detect E. coli O157:H7 from faeces on bovine hide. Significance and Impact of the Study: Overall this study highlights that any microbial data, used in either predictive microbiology or risk assessment, must take account of the sensitivity and associated performance of the methods employed, in order to make an accurate reflection of the true microbiology of the examined sample.
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