Evaluation of Postmortem Inspection Procedures to Diagnose Bovine Tuberculosis at Debre Birhan Municipal Abattoir

Simple Summary Tuberculosis is transmitted from animal to human by consuming raw or under cooked meat and milk from infected animals. Careful meat inspection considering all parts of the carcass is very important. However, most abattoirs in Ethiopia are performing only routine meat inspection which does not examine the organs in detail. Failure to do so might result in undetected lesions. In this study, two methods (routine and detailed meat inspections) were compared to inspect carcasses at abattoir level. Our study clearly shows that the routine meat inspection method misses about 89% of the tuberculosis lesions identified by detailed meat inspection. Based on detailed meat inspection, overall 4.7% of lesions suggestive of bovine tuberculosis (bTB) were found in the carcass of cattle slaughtered at Debre Birhan municipality abattoir during the study period. However, the routine meat inspection only detected 0.5% of the carcasses examined as having Tuberclosis (TB) lesions. Anatomically, 66% of the lesions were found in the lungs and associated lymph nodes, 21% in lymph nodes of the head, and 13% in the lymph nodes of the gastrointestinal tract. Therefore, lesion distribution routine and detailed meat inspection and their sensitivity with respect to lesion detection was identified. Abstract Routine meat inspection in the abattoir was used to examine carcass for subsequent approval for consumption. However, the chance of missing lesions results in approval of carcass and/or the offal with lesions of tuberculosis. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Debre Birhan Municipal abattoir from October 2016 to May 2017. Lesion prevalence estimation and two meat inspection procedures’ efficacy evaluation was attempted. The breeds of the animals inspected were zebu breeds. Routine abattoir meat inspection involves visual inspection, palpation and incision of intact organs such as the liver and kidneys, as well as inspection, palpation and incision of tracheobronchial, mediastinal and prescapular lymph nodes. The detailed meat inspection involves inspection of each of the carcass. In this case, the seven lobes of the two lungs, lymph nodes and organs were also thoroughly examined. The cut surfaces were examined under bright light sources for the presence of an abscess, cheesy mass, and tubercles in detail. The study involved and compared both routine and detailed meat inspections at the abattoir. Chi-square test of independence and odds ratio were used to see the association of lesion and different risk factors. Based on detailed meat inspection, the overall lesion prevalence of bovine tuberculosis in the carcass of cattle slaughtered at Debre Birhan municipality abattoir was found to be 4.7% but only 0.5% of the carcass examined had detectable bovine tuberculosis lesions when routine abattoir meat inspection alone was used. The majority of the lesions were distributed to the lungs and associated lymph nodes. There was a significant association (p < 0.05) in TB infection rate and body condition score. In conclusion, this study has clearly indicated the prevalence of bovine tuberculosis lesions in the abattoir that are missed by routine abattoir meat inspection. In addition, it showed low sensitivity of the routine meat inspection procedure used. Hence, our study warrants immediate attention to strengthen the current meat inspection practices at Debre Birhan public abattoir.