*2.3. Carcass Scoring*

At the slaughter line the carcasses were assessed on location and degree of bruises, according to a method developed previously by some authors [3]. Only bruises and lesions with signs of live tissue damage were included. There were three types of lesions distinguished in this study: Grade 1 only superficial tissue is involved, with a diameter less than 10 cm. Grade 2 bruises involved damage to underlying muscle tissue and contained all lesions bigger than 10 cm in diameter. Grade 3 very deep (affecting muscle and even bone), partial or total condemnation of the carcass. Bruises localization: Region 1 is the forequarter, region 2 the ribs and flank, region 3 rump and round, region 4 is the loin. A special category was made for the region of the *Tuber coxae* (hip) and *Tuber-ischiadicum* (rear) i.e., region 5 and 6 respectively. This category was introduced because of the frequent occurrence of lesions. If a bruise or lesion occurred in more than one area the bruise was only recorded in the area where the largest part of that bruise was located.
