Disease and lesion maps - part of the Scientific opinion on the evaluation of public and animal health risks in case of a delayed post-mortem inspection in ungulates

EFSA was requested to assess the impact on effectiveness of post-mortem inspection in terms of any change in the sensitivity of detection of animal diseases of domestic and wild ungulates listed according to Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 2016/429 and septicaemia, pyaemia, toxaemia or viraemia, when carried out after up to 24 hours or up to 72 hours after slaughter in comparison to when it is carried out immediately after slaughter. In order to identify the main lesions associated with the target diseases, a so called “disease map” was built, with the information about the clinical forms of the diseases  (acute, subacute, chronic, or latent forms) and clinical signs, as well as potential lesions that could be observed on the respective diseased animals.

The following information is indicated for each disease/condition in the disease map:

The susceptible animal species

Whether there is any surveillance programme in place in the EU

The signs associated with the disease that could be detected at ante mortem inspection;

The lesions associated with the disease that could be detected at post mortem inspection

The probability of detecting the disease during the PMI as normally carried out.

Whether carcass swabbing and/or laboratory tests are normally carried out.

From the disease map, the list of organs to be considered at post mortem inspection and the lesions, a “lesion map” was built by connecting animal species with organs, lesions and corresponding disease. This was done to facilitate the construction of a questionnaire where, for each organ and the five types of lesions, the respondents (meat inspectors) had to provide a numerical answer about how many carcasses out of 100 with the given lesion, will be still detected after 24- or 72-h of refrigerated storage.