Implementation of Visual-Only Swine Inspection in the European Union: Challenges, Opportunities, and Lessons Learned

Abstract

<jats:p>Consumption of contaminated meat and poultry products is a major source of foodborne illness in the United States and globally. Meat inspection procedures, established more than a hundred years ago to detect prevailing food safety issues of the time and largely harmonized around the world, do not effectively detect modern hazards and may inadvertently increase food safety risks by spreading contamination across carcasses. Visual-only inspection (VOI) is a modernized meat inspection system that is data-driven and minimizes physical manipulation of the carcass during inspection. It was developed based on scientific evidence and risk assessment and aims to better control current food safety hazards. In 2014, the European Union (EU) became the first supranational government in the world to require VOI for all swine herds slaughtered in Member States that met certain epidemiologic and animal rearing conditions. Here, we review the implementation of this new inspection system with the goal of informing similar modernization efforts in other countries and for other commodities beyond pork. This article reports the results of a literature review and interviews conducted with nine experts in 2018 on the implementation of the EU’s 2014 VOI regulation. Challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned about the implementation of the regulation are described for audiences interested in adapting inspection procedures to prevent and detect modern food safety hazards. Overall, implementation of VOI varies within and across Member States, and among slaughterhouses of different sizes. This variation is due to disease risk patterns, supply chain conditions, and trade barriers. Before transitioning to a similar risk-based inspection system, other countries should consider science-based research agendas to identify what information best predicts herd health and foodborne hazards, regulatory system design that reflects local hazards, and development of targeted VOI educational materials.</jats:p>

Predictivity of Antemortem Findings on Postmortem Inspection in Italian Heavy Pigs Slaughterhouses

“…In the currently available literature, there are a number of studies reporting data collected at pig slaughterhouses. Most of them described postmortem findings for monitoring purposes [ 11 , 12 ], for comparing different breeding types [ 9 , 43 ], or for meat inspection systems [ 1 , 10 ]. Therefore, little is known about the relationships between ante- and postmortem lesions in pigs, with reference to the capacity of antemortem inspections to predict postmortem outcomes in the same animals.…”

“…Meat inspection (MI) activities carried out in slaughterhouses serve different purposes. Primarily born with the aim of protecting consumers from foodborne hazards and ensuring food safety and quality [ 1 ], MI activities have recently broadened their scope, particularly including the monitoring of animal health and welfare status [ 2 ]. In Europe, MI is regulated by rules laid down in Regulation (EU) 2017/625 of the European Parliament and the Council [ 3 ] and in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/627 [ 4 ].…”

A Retrospective Study after 10 Years (2010–2019) of Meat Inspection Activity in a Domestic Swine Abattoir in Tuscany: The Slaughterhouse as an Epidemiological Observatory

“…While all FBOs have to ensure compliance with EU agri-food chain requirements in their daily activities, the CA carry out official controls to verify that FBOs act in accordance with EU legislation [ 8 ]. As regards the meat chain, meat inspection (MI) aims to protect consumers from exposure to meat-borne hazards and to ensure the safety and quality of meat products consumed domestically or exported [ 9 ]. Accordingly, in EU member states, slaughtering occurs in establishments approved by the CA, and MI has the primary aim of preventing and detecting public health hazards, such as foodborne pathogens or chemical contaminants.…”

“…In recent years, the MI approach has been questioned, considering that the procedures designed to detect previously common zoonotic diseases have minimal connection to current public health risks and because of possible carcass contamination [ 9 ]. In the three-year period, 2011–2013, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) produced six scientific opinions on public hazards linked to MI, covering the following animal species: domestic swine, poultry, bovine animals, domestic sheep and goats, farmed game, and domestic solipeds [ 10 ].…”

Modernization of Control of Pathogenic Micro-Organisms in the Food-Chain Requires a Durable Role for Immunoaffinity-Based Detection Methodology—A Review

“…It is in fact an inter-professional area linking the human-animal-environmental health triad on which was elaborated by Prof. Frans van Knapen and co-workers (Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands) since the end of the last century [256]. As a result, the EU is the first supranational government worldwide implying the "farm-to-fork" approach and to require visual-only inspection for all swine herds slaughtered meeting certain epidemiological and animal rearing conditions [257]. The system obliges producers to provide so-called food-chain information (FCI), including data revealing herd's health status and zoonotic risks.…”