A Quantitative Assessment of Causes of Bovine Liver Condemnation and Its Implication for Food Security in the Eastern Cape Province South Africa

Abstract

Food production needs to double, with minimum waste, if hunger and poverty is to be alleviated in South Africa. The condemnation of liver during meat inspection represents a huge waste of a protein food resource. This paper measures the quantity of liver condemned in three abattoirs in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa and assesses the causes and the monetary loss associated with these condemnations. A retrospective study (RS) (n = 51 302) involving the use of abattoir slaughter records from 2010-2012 and a post-mortem meat inspection (PMMI) (n = 1374) was conducted from July to December 2013. The RS revealed the leading cause of liver wastage as fasciolosis (5.95%, 4.48%, and 2.7%), fibrosis (2.74%, 2.37%, and 1.0%), and abscessation (1.11%, 2.78%, and 1.5%) for the 2010, 2011, and 2012 respectively. During the PMMI, the same factors caused liver condemnation in addition to calcification (8.3%, 6.8%, and 3.2%), Cysticercosis bovis (1.7%, 2.4%, and 1.3%) and improper evisceration (4.8%, 12.4%, and 27.1%) for the abattoirs X, Y, and Z respectively. A total of R 343, 330 (USD 45,271.07) was lost due to the condemnation of liver between 2010 and 2012. The further loss of 3290.4 kg of liver was calculated for the six month in 2013, and its financial value was R 59, 227.2 (USD 5889.82). The result of this study provide baseline information on major causes of liver wastage in cattle slaughtered in South Africa as well as the direct financial losses and demonstrate the huge waste of ideal protein food source.

Association between the Prevalence of Indigestible Foreign Objects in the Gastrointestinal Tract of Slaughtered Cattle and Body Condition Score

“…Cattle were selected for this study because they are poor selective grazers and are more likely to ingest litter compared to sheep or goats [ 31 ]. Animal included in the study were selected using a systematic random sampling; details regarding the sample size and sampling methods were described by Jaja et al [ 32 ]. Briefly, all animals were selected at equal intervals, except that the first animal was selected at random.…”

Prevalence of Haemonchus contortus Infections in Sheep and Goats in Nyagatare District, Rwanda

“…Gastrointestinal helminthes cause significant economic losses of small ruminant enterprises through increased susceptibility of animals to other infections, morbidities, and mortalities, especially in heavily parasitized animals and in young animals. Furthermore, they lead to forced culling, carcass, and organ condemnations [ 9 ], increased cost of veterinary treatments, decreased weight gain, reduced milk production and reproductive capacity, decreased work capacity, diminished food intake, reduced animal growth rates, and lower weight gains and treatment and management costs [ 8 – 12 ]. Among these gastrointestinal helminths, nematodes are the leading cause of ill-health and production losses in sheep and goats worldwide [ 7 , 10 , 13 ].…”

Meat Condemnations and Economic Importance in the Northern and Southern Egyptian Abattoirs

“…Moreover, fascioliasis, cirrhosis and abscesses were the reasons for liver rejection in Zaria slaughterhouse (Raji et al, 2010). A study was conducted in three slaughterhouses in South Africa showed that the major causes of liver condemnation were fascioliasis, fibrosis and abscesses formation with associated financial loss USD 4527107 ( Jaja et al, 2017). Liver lesions of food animals have an adverse effect on the economy via condemnation of diseased livers at the slaughterhouse in addition to their impact on the animal gain.…”