The most important aspects of meat quality, from the perspective of a consumer at the supermarket, are those that address product appearance (color), texture (tenderness), flavor (fat content), nutritional value and, of course, food safety.
The Perfect Carcass® Tool is an added service offered specially for Zinpro customers. It allows the user, primarily the quality control department of a poultry processing facility, to identify, quantify and estimate the economic impact of lesions found on broiler carcasses.
How the Perfect Carcass Tool Works
With a visual guide, the Perfect Carcass Tool allows users to identify carcass lesions in their poultry flocks and score those lesions on a standardized scoring system. The most common lesions the tool evaluates are wing hematomas, myopathy and, in some regions, scratches.
The tool evaluates lesion scores and estimates the economic impact those lesions are having within a poultry production operation. It can help estimate how many carcasses will need to be downgraded from Grade A to Grade B and how many carcasses may be lost due to carcass condemnation.
The tool then transforms the results and evaluations into a data report that points out potential areas of improvement. The report can provide recommendations to reduce the incidence of lesions in a flock and improve poultry production and performance through management and poultry nutrition. Users will be able to identify logistics issues that are leading to increased lesion prevalence, such as:
- Prolonged feed withdrawal periods
- Dehydration
- Heat stress due to inadequate lairage areas
- Inefficient or inadequate harvesting techniques
- Traumatic points during processing
Performance Trace Minerals Reduce Skin, Vascular and Other Types of Lesions
Genetics play a key role in meat quality, but so do management and poultry nutrition. Feed and feed supplement quality can have a significant impact on the final product. By feeding performance trace minerals, like zinc from Availa®Zn, poultry producers can improve skin integrity in broilers. This reduces the incidence of skin lesions and the potential for carcass condemnation, resulting in more meat to sell.
In a peer-reviewed research study with Auburn University, the percentage of skin lesions decreased from 42.7% in broilers fed inorganic zinc sulfate to 9.6% in birds fed zinc from Availa-Zn. The prevalence of cellulitis lesions was reduced from 52% to 40% when birds were fed Availa-Zn instead of inorganic zinc.
Performance trace minerals also reduce such vascular issues as wing hematomas, according to data obtained at the Scottish Agricultural College. Feeding 40 ppm of zinc from Availa-Zn significantly reduced the percentage of birds with mild and severe wing bruises.
Learn more: Performance Trace Minerals Help Decrease Skin Lesions in Poultry
Who Benefits from the Perfect Carcass Tool?
The Perfect Carcass Tool provides an added science-based value to the poultry industry that no one else offers. It provides a clear picture of the connection between flock health pre-mortem and carcass quality post-mortem.
It benefits all stakeholders at every stage of poultry production, including:
- Quality managers directly involved in monitoring carcass quality and training the staff at poultry processing facilities.
- Processing plant managers and financial managers who are responsible for the economics of their plants and can identify where in the process the economic losses are occurring.
- Flock managers or supervisors, who can then evaluate solutions for lesions that are originating at their facilities or during transport.
- Nutritionists who can analyze the data and link the use of Zinpro Performance Minerals® to poultry performance.
To learn more about becoming a Zinpro customer and a Perfect Carcass Tool user to improve poultry production, contact your Zinpro representative today.
