Taenia saginata cysticerci in muscles of beef cattle

Minute dissection of carcasses infected with Taenia saginata cysts revealed that heart and masticatory muscles were more heavily and more frequently infected with Taenia saginata cysts than were any other muscle groups. Increasing the number of inspection cuts in the heart and masseter muscles, while omitting cuts in such sites as the diaphragm, during meat inspection would increase the efficiency in detecting beef cysticercosis. Complete dissection of cattle found to have a single viable or dead cyst by routine inspection revealed dead or viable cysts in portions of the carcass not routinely examined. These findings justify the recent change in routine meat inspection procedures whereby all carcasses with a single cyst (whether viable or dead) are now cooked or refrigerated, instead of having the offending cysts excised.