Patent ID: 8603735

Claim:
A method for detecting a contaminated carcass and preventing its movement into or across a production area, comprising: splitting carcasses of a carcass-Lot to provide a split-carcass-Lot, wherein each split-portion is identifiable with, or otherwise attributable to the carcass- or split-carcass-Lot; obtaining a test sample from at least one test location of at least one split-portion of each carcass, wherein the test samples are obtained prior to or during chilling of the respective split portions, to produce a sampled and chilled split-carcass-Lot; combining the test samples to provide a composite-Lot test sample; and determining, by assaying the composite-Lot test sample or a portion thereof with an assay suitable to detect a particular pathogenic or microbial contamination, whether or not the composite-Lot test sample is contaminated thereby, whereby entry of the chilled split-carcass-Lot into the production area is precluded if the corresponding composite-Lot test sample is contaminated, or certified if not contaminated.