TROPHY CARCASS COMMERCIAL COMPLIANCE
PURSUING GAME MEAT AS AN ALTERNATIVE INCOME STREAM
Producing game meat from farm to fork
Target group: SA Game Farmers
The required legal processes and the 5 necessary steps to follow will be explained in an exclusive series of six articles.
This series to practically demonstrate the legal steps to register your abattoir and processing plant will be published in Private Game magazine, as follows:
I. Hitting the Nail – can trophy carcasses be commercially compliant?
a. Part I: A pilot study to compare uncontrolled (trophy game carcasses) and controlled (harvested game carcasses intended for export purposes), with reference to meat safety and quality.
b. Part II: Discussion, recommendations and concluding on the differences between trophy and export carcasses with reference to meat safety and quality in the commercial meat market.
II. Game abattoir registration process
III. Game meat processing facility application
IV. Local meat market opportunities and challenges
V. Bulls eye – the export market
A pilot study to compare the meat safety between trophy game carcasses and harvested game carcasses intended for export purposes
PILOT STUDY ABSTRACT
The health and quality compliance of game carcasses (n=295) intended for the South African export market and aspiring to the strict hygiene requirements of the European Union (EU) were compared to game carcasses (n=330) available for the local market and currently not subject to meat safety legislation. Samples were collected in similar seasons and geographical areas in South Africa from 2006 to 2009. Aerobic plate counts (APC) of the heart blood verified that both groups possessed a similar antemortem bacterial status. For health compliance APC, , and tests were performed on the carcasses. Carcass surfaces of the ‘local' carcasses were swabbed at 3 hrs and 72 hrs postmortem using the European Enviro-biotrace sponge technique. Unskinned (but degutted) export carcasses were only sampled after 72 hrs postmortem in the abattoir by incision using a cork borer. Temperature and pH readings (at 3 hrs and 72muscle were recorded for quality compliance (indicative of meat quality, e.g. shelf life and tenderness of the meat). The temperature readings recorded at 3 hrs differed between the two groups (P = 0.035). Temperatures recorded after 72 hrs showed the export carcasses were lower than those of local carcasses (P <0.001) because of earlier introduction and maintenance of the cold chain. The pH readings differed at both 3 hrs and 72 hrs (P <0.001). results showed significant differences (P = 0.008) and results showed a significant difference (P <0.001). Hygiene guidelines for the game rancher producing for the local meat market are therefore recommended.
