Sustainability

Remote Meat Inspection With Digital Devices in Small-Scale Pig Slaughter in Sweden

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Abstract

Compared to many countries in the world, Sweden is a small country when it comes to meat production. In addition, 83% of the slaughter establishments are small-scaled, processing 12% of the overall slaughter throughput in the country. Post-mortem inspection (PMI) of carcasses of food producing animals, performed by official meat inspectors, is mandatory for commercial slaughter in the European Union. PMI must be done on site at the abattoir and involves a lot of travelling by the inspectors to reach the most remote abattoirs and game handling establishments. Extreme weather or other hurdles can therefore hamper or delay PMI, causing logistic problems and economic losses for the food business operators. Over the past years it has been investigated the possibility to rely on digital devices to perform PMI remotely. Such system must be user-friendly, secure, reliable and economically sustainable and should guarantee the main goals of PMI: food safety, animal health and animal welfare. The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of remote PMI in finishing pigs slaughtered at small-scale abattoirs.

How to Cite:

Kautto, A. H. & Comin, A., (2023) “Remote Meat Inspection With Digital Devices in Small-Scale Pig Slaughter in Sweden”, SafePork 14(1).