Veterinary and Public Health Requirements

Most importing countries lay down specific conditions for the import of wildlife meat. These conditions may vary from requiring no veterinary or public health certification to laying down strict conditions regarding the harvesting and processing of such meat, and requiring veterinary certification regarding the prevalence, or not, of animal diseases in the area of origin. Only wildlife meat that has been obtained from wildlife harvested outside the foot-and-mouth disease control areas of South Africa is acceptable to the European Community. Before attempting any export of wildlife meat, it is important to obtain the most current information on such exports from the Directorate of Animal Health in South Africa, because these requirements change from time to time. Moreover, always remember never to try any shortcuts as they may sink the whole wildlife meat export market.

Health Requirements

figure 6.81 Utmost care needs to be taken to prevent the contamination of meat and the spread of diseases.

For health and aesthetic reasons, care should be taken that all butchering; evisceration and processing of carcasses and meat are carried out under the strictest hygienic conditions. The micro-organisms that are mostly responsible for food poisoning in humans who eat contaminated meat are the genera Salmonella, Yersinia and Clostridium and the species and subspecies of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Campylobacter fetus jejuni and Campylobacter coli. Others are fungal pathogens such as the genera Candida and Sporothrix, and certain viruses.

Annexure C of the state veterinary office’s Public Health Notice contains the required checklist for inspection at antelope harvesting sites. This entails the following:

Only official wildlife meat inspectors may do the meat inspection at the point of harvesting.
Meat examiners need to have proof of their qualification certificate at hand for every harvest. Failure to do so may lead to the complete stopping of the harvest and no health attestation can be provided.
Ad hoc inspections will be carried out regularly by the provincial state veterinarian.
Harvesting may not take place if it rains.

The responsibility of the hunter or harvester includes the following:

No wild animal may be hunted or harvested unless the hunter or professional harvester has first ascertained that the animal has a normal, healthy, active appearance.
No animal may be hunted if any signs of injury or disease are evident.
If dying animals are killed, the carcass must be condemned for wildlife meat production.
If ten minutes passed since the first shot has been fired and the wounded animal has still not been killed by a second shot, the carcass can no longer be used for meat production.
All suspect animals must be marked and identified, and all the relevant information must be provided to the meat inspector at the first inspection point. This includes disclosing whether the animal was wounded and not killed with the first shot.
Any additional information, including any relevant observations that were made during hunting, must be communicated to the official wildlife meat field inspector.

Post-mortem inspection:

A complete post-mortem and meat inspection needs to be done according to the regulations published by the Meat Safety Act by an official wildlife meat field inspector. The inspections include the following:

All heads and feet need to be checked.
All plucks, including the oesophagus, trachea, lungs, spleen, heart, kidneys, diaphragm, liver and mediastinum.
All the abdominal organs of at least 10-20% of the animals. The last 2-4 animals that were harvested and have been eviscerated in the field must be inspected to avoid bloat.
The reproductive organs. All lactating udders must be removed, but the bilateral Inguinalis superficialis lymph nodes on either side of the udder remain intact on the carcass.

The following should be inspected by the official wildlife meat inspector of a partially dressed wildlife carcass:

Thoracic shots that result in gross contamination of the thoracic cavity with blood and/or bone splinters, or gut shots that result in abdominal cavity contamination with ingesta.
Signs that the animals were not killed cleanly or required more than one shot to kill.
Excessive contamination of the stomach cavity with ingesta, soil, grass, or mud as a result of poor eviscerating techniques used on field-eviscerated carcasses. Such animals are not permitted to be utilised for the export of wildlife meat and are not permitted to be placed into cool trucks with any partially dressed carcass intended for such export.

After being inspected, air-dried and chilled partially dressed carcasses must be put onto chilling trucks within four hours. Following that, the official wildlife meat field inspector must seal the vehicle with an official seal bearing a unique number. If a previous seal must be broken to transport additional partially dressed carcasses, the broken seal number as well as the new seal number must be included on the certificate of origin (Annexure B of the State Veterinary Procedural Notice VPN/09/2007-02).

The official wildlife meat field inspector must supply all of the information specified in Annexure B and sign the required declaration. The chilling truck must be accompanied by a certificate of origin to the meat processing establishment, where the official veterinarian will verify that the seal number corresponds with the one on the certificate of origin and that the number of partially dressed wildlife carcasses and tag numbers match the information provided. The veterinarian will take note of the chilling temperatures as needed.

The harvesting teams must have a hygienic management programme in place which addresses the following points, and which must be implemented by the leader of the hunting or harvesting team:

A hygiene management programme for antemortem inspection and control measures:
- To train hunters on the team to identify animals with visible deformities during harvesting so that they are excluded from the gathering of wildlife meat.
- To identify animals with diseases and conditions to exclude them from harvesting.
A hygiene management programme for butchering and dressing:
- To apply control measures to ensure no contamination of meat and edible products.
- To use butchering and dressing procedures which will limit any meat contamination only.
- To train all workers in the correct processing techniques.
- To implement a programme for the daily checking of all carcasses for meat soiling and contamination.
A hygiene management programme for the personal hygiene of workers:
- To develop a general code of conduct.
- To develop a training programme.
- To keep proper records of surveillance and supervision.
A hygiene management programme for the medical competency of workers.
A hygiene management programme to maintain the temperature of water in sterilisers and also to maintain the sterilisers themselves.
A hygiene management programme for the availability of liquid soap and soap dispensers, toilet paper and disposable towels.
A hygiene management programme for the availability and safety of water.
A hygiene management programme for waste disposal, including condemned material.
A hygiene management programme to ensure the continual temperature control of the chilling vehicle. A vehicle being used for the transportation of meat must comply with the requirements as set out in the Requirements for Food under the Health Act.

Carcasses should be identified and labelled. Suitable labels for identifying each carcass and its corresponding pluck should be provided. Harvested carcasses from different sources should be kept separate, even in refrigerated vehicles where they can remain until processed, to simplify carcass identification at the meat processing unit. Wildlife meat export must be able to trace the wildlife ranch of origin of each carcass and its meat.

Organic Standards

This section on Organic Standards was adapted from the Organic Crop Improvement Association Standards Manual that was published in 2002.

Wildlife products that are to be sold, labelled and represented as organic food must be from animals that are under continual organic management from the last third of their gestation period. Wildlife that is being used as breeding stock may be brought from a non-organic operation onto an organic one at any time, provided that, if such breeding animals are gestating and the offspring are to be raised as organic animals, the breeding stock must be brought onto the facility no later than the last third of their gestation period. The following procedures are specifically prohibited:

Animals that are removed from an organic production system and are subsequently managed in a non-organic system may not be sold, labelled or represented as having been organically produced.
The offspring from breeding stock that has not been under continual organic management since the last third of their gestation may not be sold, labelled or represented as being organically produced.
Embryo transfer techniques and the use of hormonal reproductive treatments are prohibited.
Meat products must be identifiable and traceable from the primary producer to the point of sale. Care must be taken to keep certified meat products isolated from all possible contamination and prohibited materials during transportation to the point of sale.
Administration of tranquillisers or any stimulants during the harvesting and processing of meat is prohibited.

The following healthcare practices need to be adhered to:

Select types of wildlife for their adaptability to ecologically suitable conditions, and with a natural resistance to disease and parasites.
Provide supplementary food ration, if necessary, during the months of low nutritional forage. These supplementary rations must be sufficient to meet the nutritional requirements of the wildlife, including vitamins, minerals, protein and/or amino acids, fatty acids, energy sources, and fibre for ruminants.
Establish appropriate water and food conditions, and sanitation practices that will minimise the occurrence and spread of diseases and parasites.
Provide conditions that allow for the exercise, freedom of movement and reduction of stress appropriate to the types of wildlife.
Perform physical alterations as required to promote the welfare of the wildlife in a manner that minimises pain and stress, such as when dehorning animals. However, this is rare in free-ranging wildlife.
Administer vaccines and other veterinary biological agents. Vaccinations, including those to stimulate the production of maternal antibodies, probiotics and similar preventive techniques are permitted when diseases are known to exist in the natural environment and cannot be controlled by other techniques. Legally required vaccinations are allowed.
When preventive practices and veterinary biologics are inadequate to prevent sickness or disease, then wildlife producers may administer approved synthetic medications.

The producer of an organically grown animal may not do the following:

Sell, label or represent as being of organic origin any animal or edible product that has been derived from any animal that had been treated with antibiotics, or with any substance that contains a non-allowed synthetic substance or a prohibited non-synthetic substance.
Administer any drug to an animal, other than vaccinations, in the absence of illness.
Administer hormones or steroidal preparations for growth promotion.
Administer synthetic parasiticides on a routine basis, but the use of diatomite can be considered.
Administer synthetic parasiticides and acaricides to stock that will be harvested.
Withhold medical treatment from a sick animal to preserve its organic nature. All appropriate medications must be used to restore an animal to health when methods acceptable to organic production fail. All animals that have been treated with prohibited substances must be identified and shall not be sold, labelled or represented as having been produced organically.

All wildlife that occurs on South African wildlife ranches can be considered to be organically produced if they do not receive medication in their licks. The wildlife producer must, however, ensure that the water sources on the ranch are non-toxic to wildlife. This is another reason why water quality analysis of all the water sources on a wildlife ranch must be done. Meat processing procedures must also ensure that contamination of the carcasses with prohibited materials cannot occur.

Carcass Properties

The meat of antelopes and ostriches is most commonly used locally and for export. The following can be used as guidelines for cutting up a carcass:

A. Large Ungulate Carcasses

Cutting up game meat.

When processing large ungulate carcasses, a sharp meat saw and a meat and deboning knife are the only essential pieces of equipment. A sturdy stand for hanging the carcass is a handy aid, but a crossbeam will serve this purpose just as well. Strong rust-free, swivel hooks are required for hanging the meat. The carcass may first be sawn into two halves, or the various cuts may then be removed gradually from the complete carcass.

How to cut a carcass:

The correct procedure and sequence of cuts will determine the success of cutting up a carcass. The procedures involve the following:

Study the diagram of The carcass cuts for large animals well before beginning to cut up the carcass.
Before sawing the bone, first cut through the meat, this will prevent the bone from forming chips in the meat and spoil the meat.
Cut with long, even strokes along the natural muscle grain.
To prevent serrated cutting edges, keep a whetstone handy and use it frequently. This will prevent the knife from becoming so blunt that it later has to be sharpened anew.
Do not handle or spike the meat with sharp instruments. This causes unnecessary loss of natural meat juices and yields a dry product.
Chilling a carcass before cutting it renders the meat drip-free and firm, resulting in neat cutting surfaces and cuts that are suitable for packaging.

Forequarter:

The forequarter is where the butcher always starts when cutting up the carcass of a large ungulate, like the African Savanna buffalo. First, place a meat hook between the ninth and tenth ribs, about 120-150 mm away from the backbone, and hang the carcass head down. The forequarter is now divided into eight cuts, and the cuts are removed on a flat cutting table in the following sequence:

Bolo: The initial cut is made about 100 mm above the curve of the shin. Cut right through the meat to the shinbone, then cut from the top of the first cut along the top join in the muscle to the shoulder blade. To remove the bolo, cut from the bottom part of the first cut along the bone to the end of the first cut.
Hump: If the hump has not been removed when the carcass has been cut into two halves, do it now by cutting from the front upper part of the back or hump. Cut along the chine or sphenoid bones and lift the hump off.
Neck: the neck consists of the first seven vertebrae. However, usually, only the first five vertebrae are removed in one section. Cut through the meat and saw through the bone, or break off the neck.
Prime rib: Separate the prime rib and the chuck between the sixth or the seventh rib and the eighth ribs. Cut through the meat and saw through the vertebrae so that the prime rib consists of 3-4 ribs.
Chuck: Make one mark on the upper rib about 200 mm from the vertebrae, and another lower down where the shin knob has been cut from the shoulder blade. Link the two marks with a slight incision. Saw along this line through the ribs only. Do not cut through the shoulder blade.
Flat rib: All that remains of the forequarter now is the flat rib that consists of two thin layers of muscle on the ribs, and the brisket that contains the breastbone. To separate these two cuts, connect a point at the front of the breastbone with a point 150-200 mm along the fourth rib where the prime rib has been removed, and saw through it.
Brisket: The brisket consists of the point brisket, middle brisket and plate brisket. It also contains a part of the short rib. To divide the brisket, cut off the boneless part that forms the plate brisket and separate the middle brisket from the point brisket.

Hindquarter:

The hindquarters can then be hung up by the hind leg and then divided into the following ten cuts: the thin flank, wing rib, fillet, sirloin, rump, topside, silverside, aitchbone, thick flank and shin. The thick muscle that runs from the chuck through the prime rib, the wing rib and the sirloin ends in the rump and is known as the eye muscle. When this muscle has been cut out, it is known as a Scotch fillet. The cuts are removed in the following orders:

Thin flank: Make a mark parallel to the backbone and about 80 mm from the eye muscle where the carcass has been quartered. Start cutting just above the round of the back skin and follow the join parallel to the backbone to join with this mark. Cut through to the ribs. To prepare a wing rib roll, cut the flank along the rib in such a way that the wing rib and short rib stay attached. Alternatively, saw the ribs through up to the mark where the flank and the short rib were from one piece.
Wing rib: The eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth ribs make up the rib. Start at the side where the flank was and cut just above the last rib to the backbone to remove the wing rib. Cut the bone at right angles.
Fillet: The fillet is separated into sirloin and rump. It is located on the interior of the spinal column. It is covered by a coating of firm fat in fat animals that can be pushed away to expose the fillet, which can then be sliced away as a unit. Most free-roaming ungulates, on the other hand, do not have as much fat.
Sirloin: There are no ribs in the sirloin. Cut horizontally through the meat after sawing through the backbone between the last vertebrae and the aitchbone. A simpler way, which can be mastered with practice, is to pierce the meat with the tip of the knife at a place horizontally in line with the last vertebra. The knife will make contact with the bone. The bone ends slightly below this point and the meat can be cut through to the backbone, which can then be snapped.
Rump: The rump houses the aitchbone as well as the pelvic bone. It is sliced about 250 mm above the sirloin and 50 mm below the portion, extending into the carcass and revealing the sawn-through bone. Saw horizontally through the bone and cut the meat at right angles to the backbone. The rump closest to the sirloin produces the tastiest steaks or slices of meat for cooking.
Topside: The topside is located inside the buttock. The top part of the topside that lies close to the shin can be easily distinguished by an experienced butcher, but the beginner should follow the join from the bottom left side of the buttock as it hangs in a half-moon up to the shin side, and then down on the right-hand side. The topside is made up of two identifiable muscles: a top thin muscle, occasionally with a heavy covering of fat but not generally in free-roaming fauna, and another layer of muscle right beneath it. Cut through the thin, intermuscular layer of fat and remove the two muscles at the same time to free the top half of these muscles. Then, following the connection through to the bone, cut or saw the meat through so that both the topside and aitchbone retain a portion of the pelvic bone.
Silverside and aitchbone: These two slices are extracted together and then separated. The silverside has three parallel muscles: a large rectangular muscle, a round muscle, and a little triangular muscle in between. All three of these muscles are located at the top, with the triangle muscle ending further down than the two large muscles. The triangle muscle terminates where the silverside and aitchbone divide. As a result, the aitchbone is only made up of triangular and round muscles. Make a shallow incision through the meat about 100 mm below the tendon on which the buttock hangs to remove the silverside and aitchbone. Cut along both sides of the cross-cut along the muscle connects. The aitchbone is distinguished by a little bit of flat bone at the bottom of the cut. Cut across the meat where the little triangular muscle ends on the side farthest away from the shin to separate the silverside and aitchbone. The soft shin flesh is the sinewy muscles under the silverside near the shin that are removed from the cut.
Thick flank: The thick flank and shin are the only cuts that are still on the hook. Make a cross-cut above the kneecap to remove the thick flank as well. Using this sinewy section as a grasp, cut the ligaments free from the bone end and the meat free from the bone’s rear. Pull the meat from the marrowbone and cut it free.
Shin: The back shin has a huge shin bone, bare marrowbone, and dark, though shin flesh.

B. Small Ungulate Carcasses

There are mainly nine cuts when it comes to the small ungulates like blesbok, impala and springbok.

The carcass cuts for a small antelope.

The carcass can first be sawn into two halves, or the cuts can be removed gradually from the complete carcass.

Neck: It is simple to remove the neck by cutting through the rounding and sawing it off. Following that, the carcass is chopped in two and hung from the back shins.
Shoulder: Determine whether or not the shoulder should be taken from the carcass intact with the front shin attached. If so, take the shin away from the carcass and cut the meat and connective tissue loose to remove the shin, marrowbone, and shoulder blade in one piece with its surrounding meat.
Flank, brisket and shin: These cuts are removed together for ease, after which the flank is cut off and the entire piece is deboned and rolled. If the shin is removed, the cutting method is the same, except the brisket will lack the shin, chuck, and shoulder blade. Begin by making a small incision in a straight line from the flank to the brisket’s front tip. Cut a line parallel to the backbone up to the ribs through the flank. Saw through with long, steady strokes.
Chuck: Count four or five ribs from the neck and cut up to the backbone on the side where the flank was removed. Cut the bone using a saw.
Rib: This section consists of the remaining vertebrae and ribs. Cut through the meat immediately above the last rib and saw through the backbone to remove the rib.
Loin: This is the section of the backbone that is devoid of ribs. In cross-section, the vertebrae seem T-shaped. Follow the same procedure as for a large ungulate to separate the loin from the rump. Insert the knife horizontally along the last vertebra until the bone is felt. The bone finishes just beneath this location. The meat can then be chopped up to the vertebrae and the bone snapped off.
Rump and leg: Only the rump and leg are still hanging from the hook. The rump is typically sliced into chops, although it can also be served as part of a bigger roast as part of the leg.

C. Ostrich Carcasses

Different cuts on an ostrich carcass.

When an ostrich carcass needs to be cut up, the following steps can be followed.

Hang a fresh ostrich carcass from its toes and bleed it by cutting through the neck slightly below the head. Then pull all the feathers from the carcass. When the skin has cooled, it becomes rigid, making plucking more difficult.
Remove the thickened and calloused featherless skin that covers the breastplate, and then make cuts through the skin along the front region of the neck and the abdomen.
Continue the abdominal cut until it is just under the opening of the cloaca (a common route for faecal, urine, and reproductive waste in lower vertebrates) and is loose from the skin. Remove the skin under the tail as well.
A rubber band or rope wrapped around the cloaca will avoid discharge contamination of the meat during further handling.
Make a slit in the skin around the knees. The shin skins with their distinctive scale pattern can be removed for separate tanning. If this is necessary, remove them now.
Now hang up the carcass by its wingtips and then cut the legs off at the knee joints.
Cut through the skin from the centre of the chest plate to the outside edge of the wings, as well as from the abdominal cut to the inside of the buttocks and diagonally to the knees.
Beginning with the cross-cut on the chest, cut the skin free around the wings, chest, and lower half of the neck. Allow the skin to remain temporarily attached to the top of the neck so that it does not come into contact with the ground and become soiled.
Loosen the skin on the inside of the buttocks until it can be cut away on the back and top of the neck.
Cut the neck close to the body by cutting through the gullet or throat. The ostrich neck is thought to be an extraordinary delicacy.
Remove the chest plate by sawing through it on both sides longitudinally with cuts that meet on top of the chest.
Cut through the abdominal wall along the bottom of the stomach and extract the heart and liver together.
Remove the stomach and other intestines, but save the highly muscled stomach, which is also edible.
Separate the fatty abdominal wall from the rest of the stomach.
Remove the ribcage wall’s air sacs, as well as the kidneys and any additional membranes or fat that may still be linked to the back.
Thoroughly rinse the carcass with clean water.