Gross lesions and economic losses associated with meat condemnation in cattle and small ruminants at Hoima City slaughterhouse

Abstract

Abattoir inspection and surveillance is a ready source of valuable information on the incidence and epidemiology of animal diseases that are both of public and animal health importance. This information is important in preventing spread of such diseases and promoting food safety, which consequently leads to cases of meat/ livestock being condemned, bearing economic and food security implications. This study was conducted on cattle and small ruminants slaughtered at Hoima City slaughterhouse and its aim was to identify the major gross lesions and evaluate the economic losses associated with meat condemnation. It was done by conducting a survey which included all livestock slaughtered in the month of January 2026 i.e. 548 cattle, 520 goats and 110 sheep. The study revealed that liver was the most condemned organ in all species with a rate of 57.5% (315/548) in cattle, 26.5% (138/520) in goats and 38.2% (42/110) in sheep. The leading cause of liver condemnation in cattle was fascioliasis with 26.3% (144/548) while in goats and sheep it was hepatitis with 11.9% (62/520) and 18.2% (20/110) respectively. Other gross lesions that caused condemnation were pneumonia (9.7%, 14.2% and 19.1% in cattle, goats and sheep respectively), blood aspiration in lungs, hepatic abscesses (11.1% in cattle), muscle bruising in cattle (34.9%). The total economic loss associated with meat condemnation during the study period for each species was as follows; UGX 18,300,600 in cattle, UGX 3,124,400 in goats and UGX 939,700 in sheep. The study results showed that there was significant meat condemnation resulting in heavy losses cumulatively, which implied that more efforts are required, both on individual and policy level to undertake measures and techniques to prevent animal diseases, especially those that cause meat condemnation.