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New Zealand Pork’s Quality Initiative
In the early 1990’s the Marketing Manager of New Zealand Pork introduced an initiative to improve the quality of the domestic product to increase market share and improve consumer perceptions.
Much of the programme focussed on the problem of PSE and involved interactions with some of the most renowned meats scientists on the international scene (e.g. Daly, Warner, Simmons, Grandin and others)
The end result was the Pork Quality Improvement Process (PQIP) set of standards covering the seven main sections of the value chain from production to retail.
The standard applicable to production is PQIP01 and Murrellen was audited and certified against this standard soon after its introduction.
Many pig farmers were against the introduction of the standard because it would require them to change what they had been doing for years. The consumer research shows that they have been producing an unsatisfactory product but producers could not see how changing would alter their bottom line.
Murrellen Pork viewed the world differently. If financial signals from the market place were being distorted then Murrellen needed to be in the market place. Over time Murrellen developed partnerships with their key value chain members:
· Live transport – Owens Burnett Ltd · Slaughter – Bay City Meats · Distribution – Freshpork New Zealand Ltd · Refrigerated Transport – Halls Transport Ltd · Further Processing - Ashby’s Butchery
Slowly but surely the partners began to see that there was a benefit to all of them if they could provide the market with a top quality product.
Research on the chain over the years has led to further refinements beyond the PQIP standard e.g. shock meters aboard the truck, correlated with PSE incidence, were used to determine the least stressful route between the farm and the slaughterhouse.
Some Elements of PQIP 01 However, PQIP 01 remains the normative standard for the Murrellen System because of the international best practise on which it is based.
The full standard is available on New Zealand Pork’s website, www.pork.co.nz, and of course hard copies are available to producers who want them.
Below are listed some of the key elements of the standard, some of which will make little sense to anybody not familiar with animal behaviour or the production sector. Each of these specifications is backed by sound science, the bulk of which was done overseas and verified in New Zealand:
§ Each farm must have a Quality Policy included in its PQIP plan § The producer must have a documented process in place which identifies and eliminates, minimises or controls the hazards identified in this Standard. § Appropriate training must be provided for all tasks and appropriate records kept. § Employees must not carry out tasks for which they have not been appropriately instructed, unless adequately supervised. § Producers must have a documented plan to ensure pigs are handled to minimise stress.
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Producers must have ready access to and be familiar § Producers and pig handlers must view the video Swine Handling and Transportation produced by Dr Temple Grandin and available through the NZ Pork Industry Board. § Producers must have a documented emergency response procedure and ensure that staff are aware of the steps to take in event of a potential human or animal emergency.
At a minimum, medical emergencies and accidents, animal health emergencies, fire and other natural disasters (e.g. floods), and failure of critical services must be covered (e.g. power, water). § Producers must have a documented plan which ensures pale, soft, and exudative meat (PSE) in the slaughter generation will be minimised, in the context of expected handling practices up until slaughter. § Producers must have a documented plan which ensures that pigs are provided with an appropriate environment, supported by suitable husbandry practices. § Provision must be made for the continuous supply of fresh air. § Provision must be made for a hygienic distribution of the daily supply of appropriate volumes of feed. § Provision must be made for the adequate supply of palatable water. § The buildings must at all times be maintained so as not to cause injury or distress to the class of pig housed: - Pen divisions and walls must be appropriate for the class of pig contained. All surfaces must be free of protrusions and sharp edges. They should be hard-wearing.
- Floors must be non-slip and kept as clean as appropriate and practical. - Appropriate drainage must be provided. § Appropriate equipment must be available for the handling and restraint of individual pigs. § Producers must have a documented pig health and hygiene plan which will promote the production of pigs with favourable health status, and without unacceptable levels of animal remedies, other agricultural chemicals and known undesirable substances and micro-organisms. § Producers must have a comprehensive animal health management programme developed in consultation with a veterinarian.
§ [This programme must include procedures which assure the health of pigs, ensure that prompt and effective action is taken to control significant diseases, and identify all pigs under medication to guarantee withholding times before slaughter.] § Producers must ensure that their slaughter pigs do not present a risk of infecting people who handle them with leptospirosis, by maintaining an appropriate leptospirosis control programme. § Producers must develop a system to avoid unacceptable levels of agricultural chemicals, animal remedies and known undesirable substances (such as mercury) occurring in meat products, livestock and environment. § Producers must be able to demonstrate effective biosecurity including
- isolation of replacement stock - minimisation of visitors procedures appropriate to the health status of the farm for visitors (including veterinarians, stock agents and other pig farmers) - the control of animal vectors such as cats, rats, birds
§ To maintain herd health, appropriate specifications must be developed and written assurances received from the supplier on purchase of any stock. § Producers must have a nutrition plan which ensures pigs receive a daily diet which is nutritionally adequate to maintain good health and does not create any undesirable flavours or unacceptable levels of residues in the pig meat. § The feed formulation must ensure that: - no undesirable flavours are created in the pigmeat, e.g. from fish by-products in finisher feed - the meat or fat is not discoloured and the fat is not softened - residues and toxins do not exceed regulatory standards.
§ Adequate palatable water must be made available to all animals § Ad-libitum feeding is recommended if possible. § The management processes of the farm must prepare pigs for the post-farm experiences.
[Post-farm experiences include transportation, loading and unloading and holding at the killing plant. These are all new and stressful experiences to the pigs.] § Pigs must be moved with minimal force. § Pigs must not be penned with other pigs from different farms. § Pigs must be as clean as practical when despatched for slaughter. § If washing is required then it must be done using a low-pressure system. § Passages designed after the implementation of this Standard, leading to any holding pen and loading ramp, must be constructed so that stress to pigs including jamming of pigs is minimised. § Holding pens must provide protection from adverse environmental conditions, including heat, cold and wind. § Ramps should have a slope of less than 20. § Ramps must have a non-slip surface § Lame animals must be able to stand on all four legs during transport and must be treated with special care at all times, including loading § Producers must have a documented plan in place which balances the following issues:
- feed takes at least 10 hours to be converted into increased carcase weight - carcase weight is lost and meat quality suffers if feed is withheld for 18 hours or more - a time lapse of at least 4 hours between the last feed and transportation (depending on the size of feed) minimises stress in transport including travel sickness - withdrawal of feed at least 12 hours before slaughter ensures pigs are slaughtered with an empty stomach to minimise potential contamination from gut spillage. - the need for a rest period of 2-6 hours after arrival at the plant, assuming the pigs are not highly stressed or stress-susceptible. If the pigs are highly stressed or stress-susceptible, then they may require a longer rest period to minimise PSE. Alternatively, if pigs have been mixed prior to transport a short rest period may be appropriate. § The producer must have a documented process in place which ensures that the transporter and killing plant have adequate notification of the number of pigs going for slaughter. § The whole PQIP system must be audited internally annually and records kept. § The producer must have a documented process in place which ensures that controlled copies of documents pertaining to PQIP, both the Standard and the system, are updated and readily accessible
These specifications form the backbone of the Murrellen Quality System.
Murrellen PSE Incidence Murrellen Pork has a PSE incidence with a mean of 5.6% and a standard deviation of 1.3. This mirrors international best performance without using other intervention strategies such as blast chilling immediately after slaughter, which no New Zealand plant is capable of performing
This figure represents an average of two animals per weekly consignment and the animals that will exhibit PSE can be identified by their behaviour. Pigs, like people, have different personalities and in a human population we would call these “highly strung”.
Continuous Improvement The production unit of Murrellen Pork is located at Sheffield, on the Canterbury Plains but almost in the foothills of the Southern Alps. The topography of the property also has an impact on the final quality of the animals produced.
At night, particularly in winter, a cold katabatic wind runs off the hills and this, until it was identified, had an impact on animal health. Equally the area can be subject to extremes of temperature, particularly in spring when hot nor’ westers can raise the temperature by >10oC. Special ventilation strategies have been developed for this event as the pig’s thermoregulatory system has real problems adapting to sudden rises in temperature. The converse, the switch to sou’ wester after a period of high temperature does not have a serious impact.
With all pigs from the Murrellen system being subject to PSE monitoring there is the ability to make hypothetical improvements to the system and then see if there is an actual benefit reflected in the PSE incidence. It is by this means that the mean incidence has been reduced to international best practise standards.
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