The influence of pre-slaughter holding time on bacterial contamination of bull slaughter products

Meat is a good breeding ground for the development of microorganisms. There is a distinction between intravital and post-mortem contamination of animal organs and tissues by microorganisms. In Vivo insemination is noted in animals even before the slaughter of patients with infectious diseases. The spread of the pathogen depends on the type of infection. In healthy animals, in vivo insemination of organs and tissues occurs under the influence of various stress factors: starvation, fatigue, injury. During the slaughter of animals and subsequent technological operations of carcass cutting, insemination occurs due to equipment, tools, hands, clothing, air, and water. The aim of the work was to determine the effect of the pre-slaughter holding time of bull calves on the microbiological contamination of muscle tissue and offal. For the study, samples of muscle tissue and offal were taken from Simmental calves killed at the age of 17-18 months old and subjected to various pre-slaughter holding times. The bacteriological examination was carried out 24 hours after slaughter according to the methods generally accepted in microbiology. As a result of the study, it was found that microscopy of smear prints from the inner layers of the muscles did not detect microorganisms. Single cocci from the liver were found in the internal organs in the smears after 12 hours of exposure in one of the three cases, and single cocci and rods from the liver and kidneys after 24 hours of holding. Non-pathogenic staphylococci and E. coli have been identified in crops on nutrient media by morphological and biochemical properties. When animals are slaughtered an hour and four hours after their arrival at the meat processing plant, microorganisms from the inner layers of muscle tissue and internal organs are not isolated.