Evaluating remote post-mortem veterinary meat inspections on pig carcasses using pre-recorded video material

Area of Science:

• Veterinary Public Health
• Food Safety Assurance
• Remote Sensing Technologies

Background:

• Official meat inspections at remote, small-scale slaughterhouses pose logistical and financial challenges.
• Remote inspections via live-streamed video offer potential for sustainability, resilience, and improved logistics in meat inspection.
• Current on-site inspection methods can be burdensome for meat-producing businesses.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the agreement between on-site and remote meat inspection methods for pig carcasses.
• To assess the reliability of video-based post-mortem inspections in comparison to traditional on-site evaluations.
• To determine if remote inspections can maintain the goals of official meat control.

Main Methods:

• Two official veterinarians (OVs) conducted on-site inspections of 400 pig carcasses.
• The same OVs performed remote inspections of the same carcasses using live-streamed video.
• OVs re-assessed video recordings of remote inspections after 3-6 months for direct comparison with their initial on-site findings.

Main Results:

• Agreement between on-site and remote inspections was generally very high for both OVs across 22 finding codes.
• Prevalence-Adjusted Bias-Adjusted kappa values were above 0.8 for most findings, indicating 'almost perfect agreement'.
• The only exception was the decision to fully condemn a carcass, where agreement was slightly lower but still high.

Conclusions:

• Reliable post-mortem meat inspections can be effectively performed using video technology.
• Remote inspections demonstrate high agreement with on-site inspections, supporting their validity.
• Utilizing the same official veterinarian for both on-site and remote inspections enhances the agreement and reliability of the findings.