Study of major causes and associated economic losses of carcass and organ condemnation in cattle and sheep slaughtered at two abattoirs in the north of Algeria

Articles in Press

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

Asma Dahmani ¹

Safia Zenia ²

¹ Institute of Veterinary Sciences, University Blida1, B.P. 270, Road of Soumaa, 09000, Blida, Algeria.

² Laboratory Research «Animal Health and Production» Superior National Veterinary School - B.P. 165, Issad Abbas, El Alia. Algiers, Algeria

10.22067/ijvst.2026.95661.1599

Abstract

Inspection at slaughterhouses is an important step for providing a safe meat for human consumption. A cross-sectional study, which involved antemortem and postmortem inspection was conducted from January 2025 to April 2025 to establish condemnation reason in cattle and sheep slaughtered and inspected at two slaughterhouses of Blida, north of Algeria. From a total of 1091 animals (805 sheep and 286 cattle) slaughtered during the period of this survey, 14.78% sheep and 32.51% cattle were condemned. The most dominant condemnation patterns were pneumonia (38.65%), hydatidosis (16.80%), abscess (15.96%) and respiratory strongylosis (15.96%) for sheep and tuberculosis (52.68%), hydatidosis (15.05%), abscess (11.82%), and pneumonia (10.75%) for cattle. Condemnation rate of lungs, hearts, livers, and heads for sheep were 84.87%, 2.52%, 7.56% and 4.20% respectively and for cattle were 91.39%, 49.46%, 26.88%, 1.07% respectively. Also, 4.30% carcasses, 3.22% stomachs and 1.07% udders showed lesions only in cattle. Main causes of lung condemnation was tuberculosis (56.47%), hydatidosis (14.11%), pneumonia (11.76%), abscesses (7.05%), and emphysema (7.05%) for cattle, pneumonia (45.54%), abscesses (18.81%), hydatidosis (13.86%), hemorrhagic lung (7.92%), and emphysema (5.94%) for sheep. Liver was condemned mainly due to abscess (36%), hydatidosis (32%) and tuberculosis (24%) for cattle, hydatidosis (55.55%), hepatitis (33.33%) and abscesses (11.11%) for sheep. For the hearts, tuberculosis (97.82% for cattle and 66.66% for sheep) was the major cause of condemnations. These condemnations have generated economic losses with almost 4 077000.00 DZD. Further studies will be important for designing control strategy for prevention and eradication of the diseases.

Keywords

Abattoir

cattle

food safety

condemnation

sheep

Subjects

• Food hygiene

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