Microbial Contamination of the Abdominal Cavity in Commercial Carcasses Subject to Delays Before Evisceration

Abstract

Sir: Hygiene regulations require that carcasses be eviscerated soon after slaughter, and in recent years there have been moves in some countries to impose a relatively short time limit between death and evisceration. Although a number of reasons can be advanced for the utility of such a requirement,(3) there is little doubt that a major original and continuing consideration is the belief that delays in evisceration can lead to contamination of carcasses by bacterial invasion from the intestine. It has been demonstrated that no such invasion actually occurs and that muscle tissue is usually sterile until exposed surfaces are contaminated by extraneous organisms.(1)