Analysis of the quality of carcasses of young simental bulls acording to EU standard

Abstract

Domestic spotted cattle of Simmental breed with a combined production capacity is mostly grown in the Republic of Serbia. Considering the Serbias potential and tradition in production of quality beef meat as food for human consumption and raw material in the food industry and the demand of the EU market, imposes the need for changing the present and adopting new regulations. The quality of the slaughtered animals is a subject of interest, of both primary production and meat industry. Procedure of classification of carcasses is performed in slaughterhouses immediately after a veterinary examination and measurement of carcasses weight. This paper examines the quality of young cattle carcasses in a slaughterhouse in the Raska district, according to the standard applied in the EU but not in Republic of Serbia. Examination has been conducted on 80 cattle carcasses (young bulls) weighing 450 - 550 kg. For the quality evaluation and grading of meat the following parameters according to the European standard for the classification of cattle carcasses (SEUROP) were used: weight of the animal, the category of a slaughtered animal according to the age and physiological state, slaughter weight / carcass weight and randman, i.e. the conformation of the carcass, development of the muscles of the carcass as well as the development of basic parts (leg, back and shoulder) and the degree of carcass fat tissue coverage.