Day 111 - 30 Mar 95 - Page 34


     
     1        So, in the most advanced, as far as hygiene is concerned,
     2        abattoirs, the carcasses are not washed any more.  They are
     3        only washed, the inside abdominal cavity, thoracic cavity
     4         -- thoracic cavity.
     5
     6   Q.   Thoracic?
     7        A.  Thoracic cavity.  The split surface of the carcass are
     8        washed to get rid of the bone dust from the carcass
     9        splitting saw, but washing happens -- definitely it has to
    10        happen -- after the inspection.
    11
    12   MR. MORRIS:  At Jarretts were they doing the kind of washing or
    13        spraying that you were describing or were they doing ----
    14        A.  They had washed part of the carcass already before
    15        inspection which I was strongly opposed to.  They also
    16        washed the whole carcass, both inside and outside.  There
    17        has been a lot of research done into this area and,
    18        basically, the latest research from the 1980s implicates
    19        that there is no difference, basically, as far as the
    20        contamination levels, or the total viable counts on the
    21        carcasses are after or before the washing of the
    22        carcasses.
    23
    24        Basically, it has no advantageous effect on the
    25        contamination levels of the carcass, but it does have
    26        disadvantageous effects in cases where there still is
    27        contamination, invisible contamination, on the carcass,
    28        faecal contamination on the carcass, after the inspection.
    29        It is very possible.  We are very aware of that fact that
    30        that is possible.
    31
    32        Additional washing of the carcass on the surface only aids
    33        at spreading this contamination around the whole carcass,
    34        rather than leaving at one spot where it could, perhaps, be
    35        even trimmed.  If it turned visible in the chillers, it
    36        could be trimmed off then at the boning hall.  It is not at
    37        all rare that the meat inspectors are called into the
    38        boning hall to condemn meat there as well that has passed
    39        the initial meat inspection on the slaughter line.
    40
    41        But the additional negative effect that the carcass washing
    42        has applies to those abattoirs where the chilling of the
    43        carcasses is not done in the statutory manner -- that is
    44        Fresh Meat, Hygiene and Inspection Regulations 92, Schedule
    45        7, I think -- we can check it afterwards -- where it says
    46        that the carcasses have to be chilled so that air
    47        circulates freely around them.
    48
    49        Now, in many abattoirs or, I could probably say that in
    50        most abattoirs that I have seen, there is always some 
    51        degree of touching of the carcasses in the chillers.  At 
    52        Jarretts, this touching of the carcasses was regular and it 
    53        happened.  Every carcass touched a carcass next to it and
    54        they were pushed so close together that there was no free
    55        circulation of the air around the carcasses.  At least this
    56        was during the time I was working there.  This was more a
    57        rule than an exception.
    58
    59        This situation, when you have washed the carcasses and they
    60        have wet surfaces, this touching of the carcasses leads to

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