Bacteriological and histological profile of turkeys condemned for cyanosis

Department of Population Medicine, University of Guelph, Canada.

Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has adopted the term cyanosis to describe a category of condemnation for poultry that is dark but has no other condemnable lesions. Two case-control studies (n = 30 pairs; n = 65 pairs) of 18-wk-old tom turkeys were conducted. A case was defined as a carcass condemned by the veterinary inspector for cyanosis, and a control carcass was one that passed inspection. Microbiological tests were conducted on samples of Pectoralis major and Gastrocnemius lacteralis. A modified Rappaport Vassiliadis medium was used for Salmonella, and a Petrifilm method was used to assess aerobic counts, coliform counts, and Escherichia coli. The Salmonella (qualitative) test was negative for all cases and controls, and there were no significant differences between the aerobic counts, coliform counts, and E. coli counts of case and control carcasses. Two pathologists conducted a blind histopathological study: there were no lesions compatible with those of septicemia-toxemia, as defined by CFIA and the USDA, nor any significant histopathological differences between the skin, P. major, G. lateralis, kidney, liver, spleen, small intestine, pancreas, lung, and heart of cases and controls. The inter-rater agreement between pathologists ranged from good to excellent (Kappa = 0.7 to 1.0). In the absence of important lesions and microbial contamination, carcasses with this color change alone should be suitable for human consumption.