An official website of the United States government.

Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

National Agricultural Library
U.S. Department of Agriculture
  1. Home
  2. Research Tools
  3. Food Safety Research Projects Database
  4. Empirical Determination of Central Nervous System (CNS) and Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) Contamination of Carcasses and its Reduction using Alternative Procedures

Empirical Determination of Central Nervous System (CNS) and Dorsal Root Ganglia (DRG) Contamination of Carcasses and its Reduction using Alternative Procedures

Objective

This research project aims to determine the extent of contamination of carcasses with CNS tissue during dressing and develop methods to reduce this contamination.

<p>The objectives of this project are as follows:<BR>
<ul>
<LI>To provide definitive information on the presence of DRG in meat cuts as currently there is uncertainty on the distribution of DRG.

<LI>To refine techniques to quantitatively determine the extent of contamination of carcasses, and subsequent tissues, with CNS tissue and the use of these techniques to monitor contamination during alternative carcass handling procedures.

<LI>To develop and evaluate methods, including boning of intact carcasses, to reduce or eliminate CNS contamination of edible product.</LI></ul>

More information

During conventional, universal methods of dressing carcasses of ruminant meat species, there is a potential risk of contamination of edible meat with CNS tissue.

<p>Find more about this project and other FSA food safety-related projects at the <a href="http://www.food.gov.uk/science/research/&quot; target="_blank">Food Standards Agency Research webpage</a>.

Institution
Silsoe Research Institute
University of Bristol
Norwegian Meat Cooperative
Norwegian Meat and Livestock Commission
Start date
2003
End date
2006
Funding Source
Food Standards Agency
Project number
M03026