title: Use of exsanguination blood lactate to assess the quality of pre-slaughter pig handling.
abstract: The objective of these studies (Exp.1, n=76; Exp.2, n=140) was to characterize the relationship of pre-slaughter animal-handling events to exsanguination blood lactate concentration ([LAC]) in a commercial pork processing plant. Pearson correlations indicated relationships (P<0.05) between [LAC] and the number of times a pig jammed, backed up and reared (Exp.1), and [LAC] was correlated (P<0.05) with electric prod use and vocalization in response to prod use in the crowd pen, as well as jamming in the single-file chute (Exp. 2). Single degree of freedom contrasts indicated that pigs experiencing one or more events (i.e., jamming, rearing and/or backing up) while moving through a single-file chute had greater (P<0.03) [LAC] than pigs that did not experience these events in both experiments, whereas pigs prodded in the crowd pen had greater (P=0.03) [LAC] than pigs that were not prodded (Exp. 2). This study provides data demonstrating that specific pre-slaughter animal-handling events are related to post-slaughter [LAC] in a commercial setting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Sciences and Industry, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523-1171, United States. lne@k-state.edu
authors.forename: L N
authors.initials: LN
authors.lastname: Edwards
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Grandin
authors.forename: T E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Engle
authors.forename: S P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Porter
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ritter
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Sosnicki
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Anderson
mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs; D000827:Animal Welfare; D000818:Animals; D001522:Behavior, Animal; D005511:Food Handling / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D019344:Lactic Acid / Q000097:blood*; D008460:Meat; D013312:Stress, Physiological; D013552:Swine / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology* / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D019344:Lactic Acid