[name:] Marja-Liisa Hovi
[section:] Food Poisoning
[for:] The Defence
[expertise:] Veterinary Surgeon
[date:] 4 Dec 1994
[surplus:] Appeared in court

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o The slaughterhouse and the cutting premises operated with a considerable overcapacity causing the meat to be cut and dispatched at temperatures higher than required (+7 C) leading to an added risk of contamination and bacterial growth.

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o No hygiene checks or quality control measures were carried out at the premises and my suggestions to set up a surface swab programme were met with strong resistance.

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o There was no proper separation between the "dirty" and the "clean" side of the slaughterhouse leading to a considerable risk from airborne contamination of the dressed carcasses.

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o Throughout the plant there was a shortage of facilities for disinfection of hand tools and knives leading to contamination of the carcasses and meat.

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o There was no separate, chilled detention room for condemned or detained carcasses. This often lead to a situation where detained carcasses were kept in the same chillers with carcasses that had past the inspection. This practice easily leads to either contact or airborne contamination.

o The carcasses were washed with high pressure water before the inspection. This practice is dangerous as it can lead to the inspectors missing pathological changes and leads to airborne contamination.

o The chillers were as a rule overfilled this leading to contact contamination and preventing proper chilling of the carcasses.

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