A Bacteriological Study of Abscesses of Swine and Cattle

Condemnation of abscessed portions of swine and beef carcasses is an important economic problem to the meat packing industry and, consequently, to the individual stock producer. The Meat Inspection Division of the Agricultural Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in its summary of activities from 1955 through 1969 (2), reported that the numbers of abscessed portions from cattle and swine have increased (Table 1 and Figure 1). In this 10-year period the number of abscessed parts condemned in swine increased from 1.4% (1,397,248) of the animals slaughtered to 3.9% (2,660,522). During the same period of time the number of abscessed beef livers condemned increased from 7.6% (1,432,505) to 8.8% (2,242,147), an increase of 1.2%. The entire head of a hog is condemned when it has a jowl abscess and the entire liver of a beef is condemned when it is abscessed. In addition to the loss from abscesses which can be calculated directly from packing house losses, the individual stock producer loses by forced premature sale of breeding stock and by reduced feed utilization by an infected animal. The total effect on the industry is in the millions of dollars