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Animals
Special Issues
Slaughterhouses as Sources of Data for Animal Epidemiology
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Slaughterhouses as Sources of Data for Animal Epidemiology

A special issue of Animals (ISSN 2076-2615). This special issue belongs to the section "Veterinary Clinical Studies".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 851

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Carla Correia-Gomes

E-Mail
Guest Editor
Animal Health Ireland, Carrick on Shannon Co., N41 WN27 Leitrim, Ireland
Interests: animal health; epidemiology; pig diseases; data science; decision making
Dr. Natascha V. Meunier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Animal Health Ireland, 4-5 The Archways, Carrick On Shannon Co. , N41 WN27 Leitrim, Ireland
Interests: animal health; epidemiology; infectious disease; parasite control; livestock

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Meat inspection at the slaughterhouse is recognised as a valuable tool for animal health surveillance and food safety. Several types of data are collected at slaughterhouses, including ante-mortem and post-mortem meat inspection findings, food chain information, and production data (such as carcass weights and quality), as well as drug residues, chemical contaminants, and pathogens. From the point of public health, the objective of collecting data in the slaughterhouse is to guarantee the safety of meat, and meat inspection represents an essential tool to control animal diseases and guarantee public health. However, these data can also be used for other purposes such as animal health surveillance, animal welfare, production monitoring, and the identification of drug-resistant organisms.

The aim of this Special Issue is to bring together examples of how slaughterhouse data can be used to advance the field of animal epidemiology. Original research that focuses on old and new approaches of making full use of these data are invited to submit to this Special Issue. Using slaughterhouse data has some limitations/bias, and research focusing on addressing or accounting for these biases is encouraged.

Dr. Carla Correia-Gomes
Dr. Natascha V. Meunier
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • slaughterhouses
  • data
  • surveillance
  • animal health
  • epidemiology
  • decision making
  • food chain
  • food safety
  • meat inspection
  • animal welfare

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

12 pages, 1213 KiB  
Article
An Integrated Analysis of Abattoir Lung Lesion Scores and Antimicrobial Use in Italian Heavy Pig Finishing Farms
by Matteo Recchia, Sergio Ghidini, Claudia Romeo, Federico Scali, Antonio Marco Maisano, Federica Guadagno, Silvio De Luca, Adriana Ianieri and Giovanni Loris Alborali
Animals 2024, 14(11), 1621; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14111621 - 30 May 2024
Viewed by 91
Abstract
Respiratory diseases significantly affect intensive pig finishing farms, causing production losses and increased antimicrobial use (AMU). Lesion scoring at slaughter has been recognized as a beneficial practice to evaluate herd management. The integrated analysis of abattoir lesion scores and AMU data could improve [...] Read more.
Respiratory diseases significantly affect intensive pig finishing farms, causing production losses and increased antimicrobial use (AMU). Lesion scoring at slaughter has been recognized as a beneficial practice to evaluate herd management. The integrated analysis of abattoir lesion scores and AMU data could improve decision-making by providing feedback to veterinarians and farmers on the effectiveness of antimicrobial treatments, thus rationalizing their use. This study compared lung and pleural lesion scores collected at Italian pig slaughterhouses with on-farm AMU, estimated through a treatment index per 100 days (TI100). Overall, 24,752 pig carcasses, belonging to 236 batches from 113 finishing farms, were inspected. Bronchopneumonia and chronic pleuritis were detected in 55% and 48% of the examined pigs, respectively. Antimicrobials were administered in 97% of the farms during the six months prior to slaughter (median TI100 = 5.2), notwithstanding compliance with the mandatory withdrawal period. EMA category B (critical) antimicrobials were administered in 15.2% of cases (median TI100 = 0.06). The lung score was not associated with the total AMU, but significant, positive associations were found with the past use of critical antimicrobials (p = 0.041) and macrolides (p = 0.044). This result highlights the potential of abattoir lung lesion monitoring to rationalize antimicrobial stewardship efforts, contributing to AMU reduction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Slaughterhouses as Sources of Data for Animal Epidemiology)
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