Main reasons for seizing broiler chicken prepared at a poultry slaughterhouse

Abstract

The objective of the present work was to determine the main rejection lesions associated with poultry carcasses prepared in an industrial slaughterhouse, by microscopic and macroscopic examination of lesions encountered on carcasses and in offals. Ante-mortem examination showed that the main rejection reasons at this step were death or apparent death, general bad body conditions, along with a defective state resulting from removal and transportation of poultry. Post-mortem examination revealed many rejection reasons for the whole carcass, when lesions were generalized (séro-hemorragic infiltrations, cachexy, hvdrohémia, abnormal color, echymoses...), or for parts of carcasses when lesions were limited. In volume, condemnation rate did not exceede 1%. The percentage of carcasses condemned because of poor slaughtring conditions (overscalding...) was very low. This further emphasizes the need to prepare poultry in industrial slaughter houses.The microscopic study, carried out on rejected offals showed a dominance of fibrinous perihepatic lesions (50% of rejected livers), of fibrinous pericarditis (66% of condemned hearts) along with lung congestion and fibrino-suppurative bronchopneumonia (82% of rejected lung). Such microscopic lesions could mainly be related to dominant diseases such as colibacillosis and salmonellosis.

Keys works: Poultry, poultry slaughtering, rejection motives, macroscopic lesions, microscopic lesions