A risk-assessed evaluation of postmortem meat inspection procedures for ovine thysanosomiasis

A risk assessment model was used to evaluate 4 meat inspection procedures for routine detection of Thysanosoma actinioides, a tapeworm that commonly infests the bile duct system of adult sheep in the United States. The overall sensitivities of different procedures ranged from 11.96 to 58.70%, and the nondetection rates per 1,000 viscera sets that passed inspection ranged from 38 to 77. On the basis of performance attributes for each procedure produced by the risk assessment model, the consumer was exposed to an aesthetic defect that was in 9 to 17 of every 1,000 livers passed for human consumption. The amount of wastage was also identified (3 to 39 livers/1,000 passed). Viewing of the incision site of the common hepatic duct was the most preferable routine inspection procedure, and matched pair analysis revealed that there was no additional benefit in combining this procedure with routine expression of a portion of bile from the gallbladder.