[Hygienic aspects of pig's head meat. 1. Obtaining and processing pigs' heads]

Pigs's head meat is mainly obtained in specialised deboning plants and provides raw materials for the manufacture of meat products and snacks. Few data on hygiene in processing and production of pig's heads or on the bacteriological quality and tissue composition of pig's head meat have so far been published. The object of the present investigation was to supplement these data and to examine the extent to which this quality could be improved by Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP's). A total number of 11 slaughter-houses and 14 deboning plants were studied. Hygiene was assessed by two investigators on the basis of a check list. Temperatures of rooms, heads and head meat were measured. Twenty-one samples (7 x 3) were taken in each of nine deboning plants for bacteriological and histological examination. The investigations carried out in slaughter-houses showed that pig's heads were only washed in five out of eleven slaughter-houses. Cleansing and disinfection of the apparatus used in splitting the carcasses were omitted or merely carried out incidentally during slaughter. Assessment of hygiene in the deboning plants ranged from adequate to satisfactory in 13 out of 14 plants. The average aerobic colony count in Log N g-1 of pig's head meat was 6.7 +/- 0.7; this was 4.4 +/- 0.9 for counts of colony-forming units (CFU) of Enterobacteriaceae. Tonsils, mucous membranes, bone, hair and dirt were found to be present in 8, 13, 21, 39 and 9 per cent of the samples respectively. As a result of the manual cleavage of heads, relatively large bone particles (greater than 8 mm) were detected in the head meat. It is concluded that an improvement of the hygienic quality of pig's head meat can mainly be achieved by taking more care in obtaining pig's heads.