A European survey on post-mortem inspection of finishing pigs: Total condemnation criteria to declare meat unfit for human consumption.

Meat inspection (MI) is essential to verify compliance with legal requirements related to human and animal health and animal welfare protections. Judgement criteria applied during MI, resulting in condemnation data of importance, among other things, for livestock producers and for benchmarking reasons. However, although the Meat Inspection Regulation sets out judgement criteria, most are generic, favouring flexibility, but also subjectivity.

Employing Nanostructured Scaffolds to Investigate the Mechanical Properties of Adult Mammalian Retinae Under Tension.

Numerous eye diseases are linked to biomechanical dysfunction of the retina. However, the underlying forces are almost impossible to quantify experimentally. Here, we show how biomechanical properties of adult neuronal tissues such as porcine retinae can be investigated under tension in a home-built tissue stretcher composed of nanostructured TiO scaffolds coupled to a self-designed force sensor.

Slaughter of pregnant cattle in German abattoirs--current situation and prevalence: a cross-sectional study.

Background: The slaughter of pregnant cattle and the fate of the foetuses are relatively new subjects in the field of animal welfare. The Scientific Committee on Veterinary Measures relating to Public Health (SCVPH), however, does not believe this topic to be a critical issue because of the hitherto supposed rare occurrence of this practice. Some previous studies though, contradict this assessment, emphasising its relevance to animal welfare.