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National Meat Industry Training Advisory Council Limited

MHA and trimmer for skin-on-goats processing

MINTRAC is currently working as part of an MLA project on the identification and assessment of physical contamination on skin on goats. The project team is working to evaluate the correlation between some of the unique physical characteristics of skin-on-goats and the microbiological counts on carcases.

In addition to assessing the nature of physical contamination on skin on goats, the project is also developing training materials for the Meat Hygiene Assessment (MHA) and the trimming of skin-on-goat carcases. The training materials detail the types of physical contamination that can be found on skin-on-goat carcases and how they are to be evaluated in carcase MHA. In addition, the training materials will describe the unique characteristics of skin-on-goats such as black bristle and how these characteristics are to be scored in Meat Hygiene Assessments.

The training materials will consist of flip charts for QA officers undertaking MHA carcase assessments and a separate flip chart for trimmers. In addition there will be a hard copy of the training notes and a power point presentation that will include a range of images of contamination and materials that explain the causes.

The aim of the training materials for trimmers will be to give slaughter floor staff the ability to identify contamination and remove it effectively. The training materials for QA officers aim at ensuring that staff will be able to competently conduct MHA assessments and recognize contamination and defects. In addition trimmers and QA officers must be able to identify characteristics such as black bristle and skin pigmentation which are unique to skin on goats but do not constitute contamination.

If you require further information please contact Clive Richardson on 0409 438390 or Clive@mintrac.com.au