Day 106 - 23 Mar 95 - Page 17

     
     1        throughout the carcass.  It maximises thereby the exposure
     2        to air.  It gives a nice wet surface which, especially in
     3        the context of refrigeration, gives an ideal environment
     4        for very rapid growth of spoilage organisms.  Therefore, it
     5        significantly affects keeping quality.
     6
     7   Q.   When you say "spoilage organisms" would that also apply to
     8        the pathogenic organisms as well?
     9        A.  It would spread obviously by the same mechanism the
    10        pathogenic organisms.  Arguably, if you accelerate
    11        spoilage, then you adversely affect or, rather, you reduce
    12        the number of strict pathogens via the means of
    13        competition.
    14
    15        Certainly, if a carcass is highly spoiled, in other words,
    16        has an enormous load in the spoilage organisms, you would
    17        be hard put to it to find pathogens.  But, so saying, if
    18        you then kept the meat very cold, any pathogens on that,
    19        you would tend to inhibit some of that growth.  It really
    20        depends on which precise temperature you keep it at.  You
         could actually end up preserving the pathogens rather than
    22        having them die off.
    23
    24   Q.   But in terms of the spraying or the washing of carcasses
    25        and the effect it has on the prevalence of the pathogenic
    26        organisms, do you have concerns on that score?
    27        A.  Let us put it that if you did not wash the carcass, and
    28        you kept it dry and well ventilated, then your pathogenic
    29        growth would be less than if you washed it and kept it in a
    30        very humid atmosphere which tends to be the case in modern
    31        slaughterhouses, because they are using so much water so
    32        often that the atmosphere is almost totally saturated,
    33        creating conditions that are virtually ideal for microbial
    34        growth.
    35
    36        This constant, irrational push towards visible hygiene is
    37        creating enormous operational problems and having
    38        significant effects on the micro flora found on a wide
    39        variety of foods.
    40
    Q.   Is it your experience that farmers routinely use
    42        antibiotics to counter disease in their herds or flocks
    43        when they are aware of a disease being present?
    44        A.  If disease is present and the condition amenable to
    45        antibiotic treatment then, yes, that is the routine
    46        response is to use antibiotics.
    47
    48   Q.   Do they generally use it on particular animals that have
    49        the disease or the whole flock?
    50        A.  The tendency is, especially in intensive rearing, to 
    51        treat the herd rather than the individual animal as a unit. 
    52          Therefore, if you detect disease in the individual, you 
    53        tend to treat the herd or flock as the case may be.
    54
    55   Q.   Why should that apply to intensive systems?
    56        A.  Because of the proximity of the animals; if they are
    57        intensively housed, the scope for transmission of disease
    58        or illness is extremely high and, therefore, you must
    59        assume that it will spread to a large proportion of those
    60        creatures and, therefore, you treat on the basis, on that