title: Six-Year Follow-up of Slaughterhouse Surveillance (2008-2013): The Catalan Slaughterhouse Support Network (SESC).
abstract: Meat inspection has the ultimate objective of declaring the meat and offal obtained from carcasses of slaughtered animals fit or unfit for human consumption. This safeguards the health of consumers by ensuring that the food coming from these establishments poses no risk to public health. Concomitantly, it contributes to animal disease surveillance. The Catalan Public Health Protection Agency (Generalitat de Catalunya) identified the need to provide its meat inspectors with a support structure to improve diagnostic capacity: the Slaughterhouse Support Network (SESC). The main goal of the SESC was to offer continuing education to meat inspectors to improve the diagnostic capacity for lesions observed in slaughterhouses. With this aim, a web-based application was designed that allowed meat inspectors to submit their inquiries, images of the lesions, and samples for laboratory analysis. This commentary reviews the cases from the first 6 years of SESC operation (2008-2013). The program not only provides continuing education to inspectors but also contributes to the collection of useful information on animal health and welfare. Therefore, SESC complements animal disease surveillance programs, such as those for tuberculosis, bovine cysticercosis, and porcine trichinellosis, and is a powerful tool for early detection of emerging animal diseases and zoonoses.
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain enric.vidal@irta.cat.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vidal
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Tolosa
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Espinar
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: B Pérez
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: de Val
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nofrarías
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alba
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Allepuz
authors.affiliation: School of Veterinary Medicine and Science, Sutton Bonington Campus, University of Nottingham, Loughborough, UK.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Grau-Roma
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: López-Soria
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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authors.initials: J
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authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Abarca
authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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authors.initials: J
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authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
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authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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authors.initials: MI
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authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
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authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Soto
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
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authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Majó
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
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authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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authors.lastname: Segalés
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mas
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chacón
authors.affiliation: Agència de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Departament de Salut, Generalitat de Catalunya, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Picart
authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marco
authors.affiliation: IRTA, Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA, IRTA-UAB), Campus de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Catalonia, Spain Departament de Sanitat i Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, UAB, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
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mesh_terms: D000003:Abattoirs / Q000592:standards*; D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005506:Food Contamination; D005513:Food Inspection; D059022:Food Safety; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health; D000069466:Red Meat / Q000382:microbiology / Q000469:parasitology / Q000592:standards*; D013030:Spain; D013552:Swine; D015047:Zoonoses
keywords: abattoir; continuing education; food inspection; food safety; one health; pathology; surveillance; zoonosis