Rate of carcass and offal condemnation in animals slaughtered at Yazd Slaughterhouse, central Iran.

Objective To determine the rate of carcass and offal condemnation in the animals slaughtered at Yazd slaughterhouse, Yazd, Iran. Methods In a nine-month retrospective survey from June 2011 to March 2012, all the carcasses and offal condemnations for large animals (cattle and camels) and small animals (sheep and goats) in Yazd Slaughterhouse were carefully recorded daily. Results In total, 2 741 large animals (cattle and camels) and 77 515 small animals (sheep and goats) were slaughtered during the period of this survey. Six carcasses (0.21%) of the large animals and 18 carcasses (0.02%) of the small animals were condemned. For large animals, condemnations in summer and autumn were significantly greater than winter ( P <0.05). Condemnation rate of liver, lungs and kidneys for the large animals were 5.36%, 21.23% and 3.68% respectively and for the small animals were 4.37%, 5.46% and 0.51% respectively. The main recorded reasons for carcass condemnations in both large and small animals were icterus and cachexia. The most prevalent lesion resulting in offal condemnation was due to parasitic infection specially metacestods. Conclusions This study aimed to show the efficiency of documentation records during meat inspection at slaughterhouses to monitor the amount of condemnation and possible approaches to better awareness about the future preventive programs. Considering the percentage of condemnation of carcass and offal in the present study and their price in Iranian markets, the overall economic losses seems to be notable at Yazd slaughterhouse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]