(JP)Slaughterhouses concerned over methods

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http://www.asahi.com/english/national/K2001112400194.html

 

Slaughterhouses concerned over methods

 

The Asahi Shimbun

 

With disclosure Wednesday of the nation's second case

of mad cow disease and the resulting flap in

government, the cattle industry and among consumers,

one widely used slaughterhouse technique is being

criticized for its potential risks. Some meatpackers

are experimenting with other methods.

 

The process is called pithing. It involves first

stunning the animal with a metal bolt fired through

the base of its brain, then inserting a rod or coiled

wire through the hole left by the bolt. The rod or

wire is then forced along the spinal column, splitting

it so the animal will bleed faster.

 

The spinal cord, along with the brain, eyes and

ilea-part of the animal's small intestine-are the

parts that can accumulate concentrations of the prions

that cause bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), or

mad cow disease.

 

Pithing has been widely used in slaughterhouses

because, properly executed, it bleeds the animal

quickly and prevents sudden, violent kicks by the

animal, which could injure workers on the killing

floor.

 

Those advantages are offset by the potential risk of

bits of spinal cord from infected cattle contaminating

its meat. On the basis of that concern, the Ministry

of Health, Labor and Welfare issued guidelines Oct. 17

on processing line procedures for handling the risky

parts of carcasses, noting, ``it is advisable to stop

pithing.''

 

Some slaughterhouses have found other ways to process

beef carcasses without serious consequences, but

others still use pithing.

 

A meat processing plant in Shizuoka Prefecture, for

example, stopped pithing for a while, but resumed the

practice. With other methods, it takes longer for the

blood to drain from a side of beef, causing dark spots

to form on sirloin cuts. Industry officials are

concerned the blotches would bring down prices,

especially on steaks cut from expensive, fat-marbled

beef favored by Japanese consumers.

 

An Akita Prefecture beef processing center, however,

stopped pithing in favor of another method that,

although more time-consuming, works well. It involves

hanging up the animal and watching out for sudden leg

jerks. A processor in Sueyoshi, Kagoshima Prefecture,

has also given up pithing.

 

``It initially took time to process without pithing,''

a plant representative said. ``But we are now more

accustomed to the new way and the spots on the meat we

first worried about are not so serious.''

 

In Kobe, a meat-processing industry official observed,

``Workers can do without pithing as long as they get

the knack of the new method.''

 

But some critics say the decision to use pithing or

not depends largely on the number of workers at a

slaughterhouse and the way their line is designed.

 

As one Chiba Prefecture meat sanitation inspector

noted, ``We couldn't stop pithing even if we wanted,

because we have no guidance or training on alternative

methods.''

 

(11/24)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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