Journal articles on the topic 'Slaughtering and slaughter-houses in literature'

The handling and slaughtering processes for animals have a significant effect on meat quality. Islamic (halal) slaughter and many different stunning methods are used in the meat industry worldwide. The objective of the present review was to update the current literature and practices concerning halal slaughter and stunning methods, and their effects on meat quality. The present review used inductive reasoning and comparison between halal and stunning methods for the slaughtering of farm animals. Halal slaughter involves cutting the carotid arteries, jugular veins, oesophagus, and throat without stunning. Halal slaughter facilitates the draining of blood from the animal, which is necessary to produce high-quality meat with good conservation and increased shelf life. On the other hand, most stunning slaughter hinders the bleeding process in sheep and goats. The retained blood content may act as a suitable medium for the growth and multiplication of different kinds of harmful microorganisms and make badly bled meat hard to preserve. Proper halal slaughter has several advantages regarding meat quality in comparison to stunning methods, and requires greater management attention pre-, during, and post-slaughtering to maintain good welfare and the production of high-quality meat.

Food and drink are two things that everyone needs. However, for a Muslim, halal food and drinks are always a priority. Therefore, not all food and drinks are halal for consumption, such as the halalness of animals or animals. Islamic teachings teach that the halal and unlawful slaughter of animals is closely related to the method of slaughtering them. This article explains and describes the relevance of slaughtering animals using cutting machines in the modern age. This research uses a qualitative method type of literature study. The data used in this study came from the search results of some books, MUI fatwas, articles, and others related to research. Furthermore, the data were analyzed descriptively using a normative approach. The results of the study explain that the slaughter of animals using a slaughter machine is considered valid if it meets the requirements set out in the MUI fatwa’s.

Slaughter technology has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. Methods of handling the alive animal immediately prior to slaughter, methods of stunning, killing, early postmortem handling, and carcass treatment have all seen technological advancement. The primary factors driving changes in these technical aspects of cattle slaughter have been to increase efficiency of commercial operations and the improvement of carcass and meat quality. This research has been done with the aim of identifying the quality of meat, chemical composition and nutritional value of meat from animals slaughtered with modern technology. During this research we took three samples, at different points of the cattle carcass. Sample points are: 1. Spine; 2. Chest and 3. Thigh. The samples were taken fresh immediately after slaughter, while the distance from industry to laboratory was about 1 hour. The amount for a sample was about 300 gr.The samples were packaged with vacuum to avoid the contamination or any damage. The samples were analyzed in the chemistry laboratory at the Kosovo Food and Veterinary Agency. Samples analysis was made by Food Scan with these parameters: protein, fat, moisture and collagen. Based on the above results, we see that the sample of spine is richer in protein and fat and the sample of chest is richer in moisture. In the sample of thigh, all parameters are lower than in two other samples. Since the Kosovo state doesn't have yet any official regulations for the limits of these parameters, based on the literature we have used, we see that the first sample exceed the value of the fat because by 5.2 it should have up to 4.8 based on the reference values, while the second and third samples exceed the value of moisture because by 74-76 it should have up to 70-73. However, exceeded values are minimal and we can’t say that the meat is of poor quality. At the end of the analysis, we have come to the conclusion that meat samples that we analyzed, although in some cases they had exceeded the limits, but were minimal. This makes us realize that the quality of the meat is good. If, at the end of the analysis, we would result in a concentration of moisture beyond the limits, or any other parameters, in that case we can say that is not good quality of meat.The reason why these three samples were taken for analysis is that we wanted to do the research of the quality of the meat at different points of the cattle carcass because as we know that is difficult to determine the quality of the whole carcass taking just one sample.Many factors may affect the nutritional content of the meat; one of many factors is animal welfare and stress before slaughter. The results obtained give us a conclusion that the animal had no stress before slaughter, animal welfare was respected and the meat is of good quality and has nutritional value.

Animal welfare in the process of slaughtering animals by the method of removal or without ingestion is still highly debatable. This study aims to systematically review and map the literature in publications on the theme of Animal Welfare in religious slaughter studies. This study used the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses) system in the process of screening articles that were the subject of research. From 375 halal research articles and slaughter rituals indexed by Scopus, 32 articles on animal welfare at the time of religious slaughter were selected and analyzed. The results showed the development of studies on Animal Welfare through the number of publications, authors, countries, fields of science, sources of publications, and articles cited. In this study, two classifications were found, namely, the method of slaughter using stunning and slaughter without prohibited stunning. The study with stunning examines the pain of slaughtered animals, the quality of meat produced at slaughter methods, and ethical considerations and practices of using animals in rituals. The study without stunning examines the effects that occur due to no stunning, the halal of the meat, the treatment of animals during preslaughter without stunning, and stunning after the incision of the Neck Vessels. This study explores some of the latest research development lines from both classifications. This study is expected to be a reference by researchers with the theme of animal welfare when conducting new research on the development of topics on animal welfare during the religious slaughter process.

Muslim scholars are not unanimous on the issue of the application of stunning in the halal slaughtering of animals. Appropriate stunning makes animals unconscious instantaneously, thus avoiding unnecessary pain and stress during the slaughtering of animals. The present review comprehensively summarizes the available scientific literature on stunning methods in view of their halal compliance during the slaughter of animals. The issue of maximum blood loss, reversibility of consciousness, and animals remaining alive during the halal cut are the key determinants of approval of stunning in the halal slaughter. Further, missed stuns due to poor maintenance of equipment, improper applications, and poor restraining necessitates additional stunning attempts, which further aggravates pain and stress in animals. Scientific findings suggest that halal-compliant stunning technologies are reversible, do not kill animals prior to the halal cut, and do not obstruct blood loss. There is a need to carry out further research on the refinement of available stunning technologies and their application, proper restraints, proper identification of the death status of animals, and assurance of animal welfare in commercial halal meat production.

The aim of the article was to compare sheep meat production in Austria and Poland. The level of sheep population in both countries was similar. The sources of the materials were a literature review and data obtained from Statistics Austria and Statistics Poland. The research period concerned the years 1992–2018. Methods of data analysis were used, such as constant dynamics indicators, Gini coefficient and Lorenzo curve, Pearson correlation coefficients. A number of differences were found, e.g. in the direction of changes in the size of the sheep population, the scale of total slaughtering and industrial slaughtering, the share of self-supply in total meat production, traditional consumption of lamb during holidays, the average carcass weight of sheep, prices of lamb meat, interdependence of the sheep population with changes in economic parameters. The similarities concerned the level of concentration of the sheep population and their regional slaughtering, prejudices regarding the consumption of lamb, the share of lambs in slaughtering and meat production, the productivity of meat obtained from the slaughter of sheep.

The name of surah al-Baqarah is taken from the story of slaughtering cows, verses 67 to 73. Suppose someone only reads the translation of the Qur'an or reads the Ijmali interpretation, of course. In that case, he will not be able to understand the story coherently because the verse arrangement is reversed. Therefore, it takes the narratological theory of the Qur'an to sequence the story so that it can be understood easily by historical chronology. The study uses a literature review by collecting the commentators, summarized in a book of commentaries. The study results are the story of the slaughter of a cow, starting from verses 72 and continuing with verses 67 to 71. After that, verse 72 is skipped and goes straight to verse 73. So, the chronological sequence of history is 72, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, and 73. Based on it, al-Baqarah is a cow slaughtered by the Israelites to uncover the case of the murder of a nephew to his uncle. The nephew is the only heir. He could not wait for an inheritance, so he killed his wealthy uncle. He left the trail by placing the corpse in front of someone else's house at night. Then the case of finding the body went viral, and the Israelites accused each other of being confused about finding the culprit. After that, they asked Moses to solve the case; the order came down for the Israelites to slaughter a cow. Then, part of the cow was struck against the corpse, and he got up and said that the killer was his nephew.

This study aims to explore the views of Ulama Padang Lawas Utara regarding the culture of slaughtering animals during misfortunes in the context of Maqoshid Syariah. The research method used is an empirical legal research method with an empirical doctrinal legal approach, through field research. The research respondents consisted of village heads, religious leaders, and community leaders in North Padang Lawas who had an understanding of this issue, as well as the people who practiced this culture. Data collection techniques include interviews and document studies (literature). Data analysis was carried out qualitatively, with the results arranged in the form of sentences arranged systematically. The results of the study show that the views of Ulama Padang Lawas Utara towards the culture of slaughtering animals in times of misfortune state that this tradition is carried out without burdening the grieving family. Costs for animal slaughter are usually collected through the Help-Help Union (STM) and the cooking process is carried out in a collaborative way. In this context, the tradition of slaughtering buffalo is permissible in accordance with the motto "worship side by side", which illustrates the harmonization between traditional traditions and religious teachings.

This research aims to explore the origins of Nyadran, focusing on its ritualistic aspect involving the use of large animal parts (cows or goats), and to elucidate the underlying philosophy. Utilizing qualitative data from literature reviews and field studies, interviews were conducted to understand community perspectives. Findings reveal that Nyadran's implementation, involving slaughtering animals, lacks direct links to Islamic teachings and shows no explicit involvement of Islamic figures from the past. Instead, Nyadran's concepts stem from myths surrounding the village or the region in which it is organized. Community knowledge is grounded in beliefs about intertwined historical events and evolves with the growth of religious institutions. Justifications for Nyadran are based on philosophical arguments of religious, moral, and societal values, supporting the need for strong communal values and a harmonious life.

Literature related to European transport and slaughter processes were included in this systematic review. The publication period is limited to the past twelve years since the European Animal Welfare Transport Regulation was enacted in 2009. Three different databases were used. The final screening resulted in the inclusion of 19 articles in this review. When handling cattle during transport and slaughter, personnel have an important impact and may inflict stress on the animals. Other factors, such as the group composition and health status prior to transport, can have a strong negative effect on animal welfare. At the abattoir, constructional conditions and the resulting environmental influences can have a negative impact on welfare as well. These include increased noise levels due to the lack of noise dampening and changing light conditions. Stress in cattle can be assessed, e.g., by measuring stress hormones or heart rate. Effective stunning is an important welfare-relevant step in the slaughtering process. Some signs of unconsciousness, such as immediate body collapse or absence of the corneal reflex, can be easily assessed. Expertise and continuous training of all personnel involved are important measures in stress reduction.

Let us Draw on the past as we look toward the future. Specifically, let us begin with the Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes, or “Problems to Sharpen the Young,” by Alcuin of York. Written sometime in the later eighth century, this text offers a number of logical and mathematical problems meant, as the title suggests, to refine one’s intellect. Some of the problems are fairly straightforward, as in the case of a question about how many sheep might fit in a field measuring 200 × 100 feet, with each sheep being allocated a space of 5 × 4 feet. Others, like de porcis, are somewhat trickier. This latter example is an impossible puzzle that asks how one might slaughter 300 pigs in three days by only slaughtering an odd number on each of the days.

The aim of the conducted research was to determine the impact of factors such as sex hormone levels, which vary during gilts’ reproductive cycle, on the quality of the obtained meat and slaughter characteristics of the processed gilts. The research material included a population of 60 gilts slaughtered in one of the slaughterhouses located in south-eastern Poland. After the slaughtering operations were completed, the carcasses were weighed at the classification stand. The results of the statistical evaluation of the haematological and biochemical blood parameters of the examined gilts showed that, in the tested blood samples, the concentration of progesterone had a statistically significant impact only on the level of total protein, which was higher in the blood samples of gilts with a low concentration of progesterone. It was found that carcasses of gilts with higher levels of the LH hormone were characterized by a lower meat content index by nearly 3%. It was shown that the concentration of LH affected the post-slaughter temperature of the sirloin and ham muscles. The interpretation of the obtained data was difficult since there seems to be a gap in the literature concerning the dependencies of sex hormone levels in gilts and meat quality.

This paper solely focuses on the two Brunei halal meat slaughterhouses and offers suggestions on how these findings can translate into considerations for the halal industry in Brunei. In Islamic law, dhabīḥah is the prescribed method of ritual slaughter of all lawful halal animals. This method of slaughtering lawful animals has several conditions to be fulfilled. This method requires proper training and mindset in order to be carried out correctly. This research is explorative using qualitative primary data collection through the use of interviews. The participants comprise slaughterhouse employees using a purposive sampling method. The intent is that this research adds to the body of literature seeking to understand the complexities of training and motivation in meat slaughterhouses and offer insight on the complexities between training, motivation, and performance. It also identifies how differences in organisational structure can impact the approach to the training and employee motivation approaches.

The almighty Allah (SWT) has created all living beings, humans, birds, animals and insects. He is who strongly asks people to treat animals with compassion and not to abuse them which are worthy of consideration and respect. In Sri Lanka, varying concepts are followed among different communities: Buddhists and Hindus consider slaughtering quadrupeds as a cruel act. Meanwhile, Muslims consider the similar act as a divine obligation (Qurbani and Uluhiyya). This study compares the Animal Welfare Bill, initiated by the Commission of Law of Sri Lanka on 2006, with the tenets of Islamic Law (Shariah) through a review of literature and thematic content analysis to identify areas where the right of the animal is violated. According to Animal Welfare Bill of 2006, these areas refer to the slaughter of animals for meals, transport of animals, use of live animals for scientific purposes, and cruelty relating to animals. These identified areas coincide with the identified areas espoused by the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH), and a solution produced to prevent such violation with the instruction of almighty Allah around 1400 years ago.

Background: The consumption of lamb meat is growing due to improved farming methods. However, to be economically feasible, the animal should stand out for its precocity, fast finishing and muscular force, such as seen in Texel breed. Besides, knowledge about weight gain and development can facilitate the selection of the best animals, and allow a better fitting to farming systems. Growth curves are an effective method that describes animal development, modeling the relationship between weight and age and help to predict the growth rate. Thus, this study aimed to analyze which nonlinear model, including Brody, Gompertz, Von Bertalanffy and Logistic best describe the growth curve of Texel sheep.Materials, Methods & Results: In this experiment, the lambs were kept in confined system while the ewes, in a semi-extensive system. This study followed 42 Texel male lambs, which were confined from birth to slaughter, and fed concentrated feed (3% of body weight) and corn silage (average 1.5 kg/animal/day), 4 times a day. The lambs were weighed fortnightly, in different classes considered as follows, weight at birth (BW), 15 days (P15), 30 days (P30), 45 days (P45), 60 days (P60), 75 days (P75), 90 days (P90), 105 days (P105), and 120 days (P120), which was defined as the slaughtering weight. The growth curves were determined using the nonlinear models of Brody, Von Bertalanffy, Gompertz and Logistic. The following parameters were used in the curves, Y, slaughtering weight; A, asymptotic weight; k, growth rate, t, animal age; B, constant related to the initial weight; and, m, constant of the curve shape. The criteria used for selecting the model that best described the curve were the mean square error (MSE), which was calculated by dividing the sum of squared error by the number of observations, and also the coefficient of determination (R²), calculated as the square of the correlation between the observed and estimated weights. The average weights observed were as follows, 4.02 kg at birth, 21.68 kg at weaning (P60) and 32.55 kg at slaughtering (P120). The solution of the nonlinear models allows, thru the parameters, establish specific feeding programs and define the optimal slaughtering age. Furthermore, the coefficients of determination, with values close to 97.3%, showed good fits for all models. Still, considering the mean square error, where the lower value indicates the best fit to the data evaluated, the results were 13.1564 (Brody), 13.3421 (Von Bertalanffy), 13.4876 (Gompertz) and 13.6717 (Logistic). The results showed that Brody could be considered the model that best describes the growth rate up to 120 days old of Texel lambs.Discussion: Compared to other studies, the average weights obtained in the experiment varied widely. This large variation can be explained by the used rearing system that might favor or not the performance of lambs. However, the average weaning weight obtained was similar to several studies in the literature, confirming the potential of Texel breed. This breed demonstrated to be capable to provide a precocious animal, with good growth results from the early developmental stage until the slaughtering age. Regarding the growth curves, the Brody model was the best fit for the estimated and observed weights. Moreover, the coefficient of determination indicated good fits for all models. However, an important aspect is the negative correlation between the A and k parameters, demonstrating that the higher the animal growth rate, the lower its asymptotic size.

Salmonella is one of the most important risks for food safety, and pork is one of the sources of human salmonellosis. A chain approach is essential to reduce Salmonella in pork products. A survey was carried out among Dutch and Danish experts in the field of Salmonella to evaluate the entire pork supply chain. The aims of the survey were to determine and rank possible management interventions (such as adjusted or new procedures, technical adjustments and control measures), and to estimate the details of the course of infection and contamination. An additional objective was to compare the opinions of experts from different countries and different backgrounds. The two stages in which it was expected that management interventions to improving food safety with respect to Salmonella in pork would be most effective were the the finishing stage (by preventing the spread of Salmonella within the farm) and the slaughtering stage (by preventing cross-contamination). The differences in the opinions of respondents from different backgrounds were mainly reflected by the relative importance they attached to the specific management interventions. For instance, the Danish respondents attached more importance to the purchase of Salmonella-free piglets in the finishing stage and to logistic slaughter. Respondents with a research background seemed to attach most importance to interventions that were also presented in recent literature, such as feeding non-heated grain to finishing pigs. For issues in which multiple stages of a supply chain are involved, a solid basic knowledge about the conditions per stage with respect to the issue is necessary.

This study was aimed to investigate the extent of pollution in Poultry slaughterhouse with Salmonella spp and their effect on public health .(142) samplescollected from (8) poultry slaughter houses in Baghdad were examined . thesesamples included( live chicken cages ,live chicken transporting cars,slaughtering knives ,workers hands, transport belt , chiller , chick beforepackaging stage) .All samples were cultured on special media until the growthappeared then Biochemical tests were done for diagnosis of Salmonella spp.The results of this study shown the diagnosis of (14) isolates of Salmonella spp,all of them were motile except (3) isolates, These isolates were recovered fromthe following sites:1. (2) isolates from live chicken transporting cars.2. (1) isolate from live chicken cages.3. (3) isolates from workers hands.4. (1) isolate from transport belt.5. (1) isolate from slaughtering knives.6. (3) isolates from chiller.7. (2) isolates from stunning.8. (2) isolates from chickens beforepackaging.

This study was conducted to determine foetal wastage and disease prevalence among slaughtered livestock (cattle, camels, sheep and goats) in Zaria Abattoir as affected by species and season. These losses pose a great threat to the future population of Nigerian livestock. Records from the year 2009 to 2012 were collected from the management of Zaria Abattoir. The record includes; the number of animals slaughtered monthly, monthly foetal losses, disease incidence and organs infected and the most predominant disease found among slaughtered animals. A total of 4,675 female animals were slaughtered in the Abattoir, with a total of 339 foetuses recovered in 2012. Statistically, there is no significant difference (P>0.05) between species, however, there is statistical significance (P<0.05) of the season on the diseases prevalent. The highest number of foetal wastage was observed in the month of July with 42% and February had the lowest value of 17%. Fascioliasis had the highest mean value of disease prevalence (63.13%) and mastitis had the lowest mean value (0.06%).The wet season (31.36%) recorded the highest occurrence of foetal wastage than the dry season (12.84%). To achieve high production and have a sustainable livestock industry capable of meeting the nutritional demands of Nigerians, remedial measures have to be taken to stop the liquidation of pregnant female animals through the slaughtering of pregnant animals. It is, therefore, recommended that ante-mortem inspection should be conducted to identify pregnant and diseased animals before slaughter.

The present study was undertaken to investigate the potential for heavy metals (Fe, Cr, Cd, Pb, and Cu) contamination of goat meat roasted with scrap tyres in Wukari using atomic absorption spectrophotometer (AAS). Goat meat samples were obtained from two slaughter points (new market and Mammara). The results revealed the mean concentrations of Fe, Cr, and Cu in the unroasted goat meat samples (UMN and UMM) in both new market and Mammara slaughtering points as 1.7600 ± 1.4000, 0.0012 ±0.0000, 0.8700, 3.2500 ± 0.0000, 0.0025 ± 0.0000, and 0.7850 ± 0.0071 mg/kg respectively. Cd and Pb were not detected in any of the samples. The mean concentrations of Fe, Cr, Cd, and Cu in the goat meat roasted with scrap tyres (RMN1 and RMM1) in both slaughtering houses (new market and Mammara) were 4.1300 ± 0.0141, 0.0025 ± 0.0001, 0.0011 ± 0s.0000, 1.1250 ± 0.0071, 5.1500 ± 0.0000, 0.0035 ± 0.0001, 0.0012 ± 0.0000, and 1.0500 ± 0.0000 mg/kg respectively. Pb was not detected in all the samples. Also, the mean concentrations of Fe, Cr, and Cu in the goat meat roasted with firewood (RMN2 and RMM2) in slaughtering houses (new market and Mammara) were 3.7750 ± 0.0000 mg/kg, 0.0013 ± 0.0000, 0.9850 ± 0.0000, 4.9150 ± 0.0071, 0.0026 ± 0.0000, and 0.8650 ± 0.021 mg/kg respectively. Cd was detected in the samples obtained from Mammara (0.0012 ± 0.0000) but was not detected in the samples collected from new market. Pb was not detected in any of the samples obtained from both slaughtering houses. The mean concentrations of Fe and Cu in (UMN, UMM), (RMN1, RMM1), and (RMN2, RMM2) in both slaughtering points were above the maximum permissible level set by (FAO) and (WHO).The result of this present study show that the practice of roasting goat meat with scrap tyres is dangerous because the meat could accumulate high and unacceptable levels of heavy metals that could pose a threat to human lives, and hence, should be outlawed.

The study was conducted to ascertain the injuries of cattle and buffaloes at selected livestock markets of Bangladesh during transportation and slaughter. A total of 290 (212 cattle and 78 water buffalo) at Sagorica cattle market and 57 (24 cattle and 33 buffalo) at Fringibazar and Pahartali slaughter houses of Chittagong were examined during the period from January to April 2013. The frequency of different injuries during handling, transportation and slaughtering were assessed. The data of different type of injuries (e.g. abrasion, laceration, bleeding, swelling, scarification and wound) were collected from the market and slaughter houses by using visual observation and palpation method. The frequency of abrasion, laceration, bleeding, swelling and scarification of cattle were 73, 45, 4, 3, 67 and 87%, and of buffaloes were 71, 9, 23 nd 41%, respectively. All the injuries were higher in Haryana than Rajasthani, Shahiwal and Exotic non descriptive cattle breeds. The tail injury in cattle and buffaloes was 65 and 23%, respectively. In the slaughter house, the frequency of abrasion, laceration, penetration and scarification were 79, 75, 8, 75 in cattle, and 85, 70, 0 and 67% in buffaloes, respectively. From these findings it could be concluded that proper handling and care should be taken to avoid different injuries of cattle and buffaloes during transportation and slaughter.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjas.v43i1.19389 Bang. J. Anim. Sci. 2014. 43 (1): 74-77

The aim of this study was to identify pasteurella multocida and their types by PCR in cattle’s and buffaloesi bagdad from March to August 2012 on 204 animals , including 102 cattle and 102 buffaloes at slaughter houses from Baghdad .Blood samples and nasal swaps were collected , before slaughtering and lung tissues of slaughtered animal , and from 54 clinically suspected cases of pasteurellosis , including 27 bovines ,and 27 buffaloes the samples taken included blood and nasal swabs . Pasteurellamultocida were isolated from 94 animals include 49 cattle 45 buffaloes. The typing of the isolates by multiplex PCR for genotyping Pasteuerllamultocida revealed 93 isolates of type B , 31 from cattle and 62 from buffaloes ,and 81 isolates of type A , 55 from cattle and 26 from buffaloes .

Two hundred and fifty slaughtered pigs for meat purpose, in various localities ofKathmandu Metropolitan City and Dharan Municipality were examined for Taenia cystsduring January 1997 to April 1998. A surveillance study was also carried out with butchers, meat sellers, farmers and porkconsumers to study the awareness of taeniasis cysticercosis.Data was collected from the hospitals to determine the status of taeniasis/cysticercosisinfection in humans. Out of 250 slaughtered pigs examined, thirty-four (13.6%) were found positive for cysticercosis. The sex wise prevalence rate of infection was 8.77% in male pigs and 24.05% in female pigs. The result reveals that females are infected more than the males. Out of 196 slaughtered pigs examined in Kathmandu, 28 (14.28%) were found positive, whereas in Dharan, out of 54, 6 (11.11%) were found positive. The result further reveals that the number of infected pigs is higher in Kathmandu than Dharan. It is due to the importation of infected pigs to Kathmandu both from rural areas of Nepal and India. The results show that pork consumption is risky from a public health point of view. In environments where animal cysticercosis is prevalent, human taeniasis/cysticercosis is likely to be present.Prevalence of Taenia solium infection in pigs was therefore observed and recorded for the first time in Dharan Municipality and Kathmandu Metropolitan Municipality in Nepal.Human cysticercosis cases were also studied. Out of 23,402 human biopsy casesrecorded from Patan Hospital alone during July 1993 - Feb 1998, sixty-two patientswere confirmed to have cysticercosis infection. Out of 62 taeniasis/cysticercosispatients, 40 cases were from Kathmandu and 22 were from outside Kathmandu. Amongthe 62 infected patients, 38 were females while 24 were males. The result reveals that the infection rate is higher in Kathmandu than outside Kathmandu. Sexwise data againreveal that females are infected more frequently than males.The surveillance study findings reveal that taeniasis and cysticercosis are prevalentin Kathmandu and Dharan due to various factors, viz,uncontrolled slaughtering, lack of a meat inspection program, lack of awareness aboutmeat borne diseases, unhygienic conditions of slaughtering places due to lack of slaughter houses, environmental pollution etc.The incidence of human taeniasis/cysticercosis could be controlled by raising pigsunder hygienic condition and improving the environmental quality in the pig slaughtering abattoirs under the supervision of medical and veterinary technicians. An effective veterinary public health activities should immediately be established in all 56 municipalities of the country for meat inspection and construction of slaughter houses.

A survey was conducted to appraise the location, infrastructures, and slaughter operational activities in three abattoirs at Rumuokoro, Trans-Amadi and Rumuosi in Obio-Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State, Nigeria. Thirty butchers of 10 per abattoir were purposively sampled for the study. The instrument used for data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using frequencies, percentages and mean statistics Results of the socio-demographic characteristics of the butchers revealed that they were all males, married, within the age of 35 - 44years, literate, with a butchering experience of 16 years upwards in private or public/Government owned abattoirs. The slaughter houses were located in areas devoid of bad odours, smoke, dust and close to coastal areas affected by tides to promote good sanitation. There were no adequately constructed lairages, Ante-mortem inspection and isolation pens were inadequate. There were no facilities and rooms for handling hides and skins, treatment of inedible and condemned carcass and meat. Animals were poorly restrained and not stunned before slaughtering. The slaughter houses had planned and controlled cleaning programs but lacked efficient disinfection operations and this will contribute to bacterial contamination of carcasses. The operational lapses by butchers were due to the use of obsolete facilities that lacked maintenance and inadequate supervision. This condition had brought about poor hygienic practices that undermine the quality of carcasses. The recommendations proffered are: the provision and maintenance facilities for effective operations to ensure carcass quality, to adequately enforce enacted laws on abattoir operations, there should be enlightenment for butchers and meat sellers, and there should be effective management of the wastes from slaughterhouses through regular fumigations and disposal systems.

OF 3,900 non-gravid zebu ovaries examined at 3 Zaria slaughter houses, 2,652 (68%) were active, Ovarian activity was highest during the rainy season and anestrus highest during the dry season (P < 0.01). Anestrus non-gravid cows and empty cows with active ovaries had the lowest (135+41 kg) and the highest (170 +43 kg) carcass weight respectively. Aged anestrus empty COWS had the lowest carcass weight (127+28 kg) and mature empty cows with active ovaries had the highest (180 +47 kg). The incidence of anestrus increased with age. The magnitude of slaughtering of young and mature empty cows with active ovaries was discussed and it was recommended that rectal examination be done before culling animals in order to reduce this major source of loss of reproductively active cows.

In 1984, we monitored 4 ranches with a total of 24 houses (15,000–20,000 birds/house) for 3 consecutive generations (January–August). On epidemiologic grounds, infection of birds did not originate at the hatcheries or the central water and feed. Considering all lots of birds, the infection rate increased from 2.3% by the 10th day to 9.5, 29.7, 47.9, 65.7, 78.6 and 81.8% by the 20th, 30th, 40th, 45th, 50th day and at slaughter times, respectively. Transmission from one generation of chickens to the next via the old litter is suspected, but not proven microbiologically. A 5-log reduction of Campylobacter jejuni was shown in experimentally inoculated litters stored at 17 and 30°C for 6 d and 8°C for 11 d. The houses remained empty for 9–29 d before being filled with new chicks. Carrier flocks contaminated the slaughterhouse equipment to such an extent that negative flocks processed afterwards resulted in contaminated meat. Lack of effective sanitation at the end of the day contributed to the contamination of meat from Campylobacter-free birds processed the next day. Feather picker drip water was positive 94% of the sampling times at levels of log10 3.4 (1.0–4.7). Scalding temperatures did not affect the level of contamination in the finished products (P&gt;0.2). An ELISA based on heat-stable antigens was adapted for the detection of circulating antibodies. Of 56 broilers aged 50 to 68 d, only 2 (3.5%) 68 d old with log10 5.4 C. jejuni/g of feces were considered as positive. Birds considered negative harbored C jejuni in their ceca at levels of log10 2.0 to 5.4/g of feces. Five out of 6 (83%) 18 month-old hens were considered as positive. Yet, none of these birds were found carrying C. jejuni in their feathers or ceca.

Based on the last national livestock census in 2013, the population number of cattle and buffalo have reduced by 15% compared to that in 2011. The highest reduction happened in Java that reached around 24-27%, while that in Bali and Nusa Tenggara was 25%. One of the reasons was caused by decreasing number of cows due to the increase of productive cows slaughtered every year. Number of cows slaughtered in Bali, Nusa Tenggara, and South Sulawesi had reached on average of 72% from total slaughtered, where more than 90% were productive cows. Reasons for slaughtering productive cows were due to: (1) Lower cows price; (2) Limited bulls supply; (3) Local government regulation on inter-island trade; (4) Weak and inconsistent law enforcement; and (5) Lack of understanding on criteria for productive cows by farmers. Increased rate of slaughtered cattle and increasing rate of inter-island trade volumes that higher than the rate of cattle population had caused the decrease of national cattle population. There are currently needs to improve and develop operation slaughter-houses under management of local state enterprise. The management applies on certain mechanisms that sort of incoming productive females according to different grades into allowable to be slaughtered and selected for breeding females, which could be further traded inter-island as supplier of cows for other regions. This strategy may help the central government to meet the demand for productive cows, particularly in Sumatera and Kalimantan which have abundance of feed biomass resources. Policy support is needed as instruments for all interested stakeholders including those who are willing to invest in cattle development such as oil-palm estates.

This paper aims to show the evaluation of information technologies (ITs) that has been used to trace products in Brazilian cattle chain. The Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an identification technology that traces products from their origin to their destination. This work includes literature review on evaluation models in technology, information technology, information systems, and RFID. The field research described in this paper was carried out at four Brazilian slaughterhouses. Some methods used were qualitative approach, case study, and interviews to show results. Although RFID has some advantages in traceability systems, it has been used by these companies in other activities such as warehousing and stocking. Because of this, in the Brazilian cattle chain barcode has been used to trace products.

Slaughter-houses are the places from where people get the meat for consumption, but the time is to utilize the by-products to increase the GDP’s rate from livestock. A field survey was conducted regarding usage of the by-products of slaughterhouses and/or meat selling centers in Dhaka city of Bangladesh. Data were collected from total 60 slaughterhouses and/or meat selling centers randomly from different part of Dhaka city consisting 20 large animal (cattle, buffalo), 20 small animal (goat, sheep) and 20 poultry bird (chicken, duck) slaughterhouses and/or meat selling centers. Following slaughtering process huge amount of different by-products are also produced that have good economic and nutritive value. The results revealed that edible by-products such as head trimmings, brain, tongue, heart, stomach, lungs, liver, pancreas, spleen, kidney and tail were used by 100% as human food. Inedible by-products had diversified uses but to some extent they were also rejected. However, no one of the inedible by-products was fully rejected. Among the inedible by-products the hides had a great industrial value. Poultry by-products like blood, intestines and feather wastes were generally found to utilize as fish feed. Most slaughterhouses were found to maintain moderate to poor hygienic conditions where very few maintained good condition. Almost two-third (61.67%) slaughterhouses were used water container as water supply followed by hose pipe (33.33%) and tape water (5%) for cleaning purpose. It can be concluded that by-products are valuable materials but due to lack of management and industrial mind slaughterhouses of the Dhaka city cannot utilize those materials. Therefore, proper usages of by-products can run a new prospective business in Bangladesh. Asian J. Med. Biol. Res. December 2020, 6(4): 809-816

In July 1099, after three years of levantine military adventure during which new latin christian colonies were fashioned at edessa and Antioch, the transnational forces from Europe later known as the First Crusade finally captured their principal target: Jerusalem. Three eyewitness chronicles attest to the bloodbath that followed. Fulcher of Chartres, chaplain to one of the foremost Crusade leaders, estimated that “ten thousand were beheaded” at the Temple of Solomon alone (Chronicle 77). The anonymous author of the Gesta Francorum (The Deeds of the Franks) averred, “No-one has ever seen or heard of such a slaughter of pagans” (92). Raymond d'Aguiliers, chaplain to another Crusade leader, was effusive:Some of the pagans were mercifully beheaded, others pierced by arrows plunged from towers, and yet others, tortured for a long time, were burned to death in searing flames. Piles of heads, hands, and feet lay in the houses and streets, and indeed there was a running to and fro of men and knights over the corpses…. [T]hese are few and petty details…. Shall we relate what took place there? If we told you, you would not believe us. So it is sufficient to relate that in the Temple of Solomon and the portico crusaders rode in blood to the knees and bridles of their horses. In my opinion, this was poetic justice…. Jerusalem was now littered with bodies. (Historia 127-28)

Problems associated with prediction of saleable meat yield, price haggling and monetary worth of cattle purchased due to difficulties in accurately relating visual appearance of animals and the weight with their price have always been in existence. This study was carried out to determine the accuracy in the use of heart girth tape as an alternative to the use of weighing bridge and crush, dressing percentage and expected cut yield from three indigenous breeds of cattle in Nigeria using linear body measurement. Thus, a total number of 51 healthy and mature White Fulani (n=17), Sokoto Gudali (n=17) and Red Bororo (n=17) cattle breeds were randomly purchased from Ilesha Baruba cattle market Kwara State, Kotangora cattle market, Niger State and Akinyele cattle market, Ibadan, Oyo state and were subjected to heart girth measurements. The study lasted for 32 weeks. Live weights of animals were determined at the point of purchase using a specialized measuring tape (girth tape) calibrated in kilogram (kg) and centimeter (cm).The live weights were recorded in kilogram which was used in price negotiation at the market. The live weight of the cattle ranged from 164 – 463 kg. The mean girth tape values were White Fulani (286.53 51.06)kg, Sokoto Gudali (293.35+77.51)kg and Red Bororo 261.88+60.65)kg respectively. Post slaughtering data collected were dressing percentage, weight of head(kg),neck(kg), shanks(kg), forearm(kg), thigh(kg),skin(kg),liver(kg),heart(kg), intestine(kg)and kidney(g).The study revealed that heart girth measurement had high correlation coefficient with live weight (r=0.99, p<0.001). This implies that the use of heart girth tape in weight prediction is accurate and reliable. There were significant (p<0.05) differences in the dressing percentage among the breeds (43.55-46.52) %. Significant (p<0.05) differences were observed in the cut yield percentage between Red Bororo (33.16 4.12) and other breeds but none between White Fulani (37.14 4.50)% and Sokoto Gudali (34.53 5.26)%.There were significant (p<0.05) differences in the head (13.52-13.42)kg, Neck (14.70-18.07)kg, left thigh (27.92-29.41)kg, right forearm (22.91-27.24)kg, left forearm (24.84-27.57)kg, liver (3.60 – 3.84)kg, skin (15.03 -15.39), shank (2.20-2.41)kg, tail (5.23-5.92)kg but none for right thigh, kidney and lungs among the breeds. The variations in the yield may be as a result of genetic, management, weight and age of the animals. It can be concluded that heart girth tape may be used where weighing crush is not available because of its accuracy and reliability. The study also revealed that White Fulani has higher meat yield than Sokoto Gudali and Red Bororo and will therefore be more profitable to cattle sellers, abattoir centers, slaughter houses andmeat shops.

The third day after leaving Tingi-Tingi we began to pass the bodies of the dead and the dying.… My eye fell on a teenager hardly sixteen years old. Like the others she was lying at the side of the road, her large eyes open.… A cloud of flies swarmed around her. Ants and other forest insects crawled around her mouth, nose, eyes and ears. They began to devour her before she had taken her last breath. The death rattle that from time to time escaped her lips showed that she was not yet dead. All who passed by glanced at her and then took up their conversation where they had left off. I stood in a daze in front of this sixteen-year-old girl, lying in agony by the side of the road in die middle of the equatorial forest more than five hundred kilometers from home. As in 1993, when I heard about the extermination of my mother's family, as in 1994, when I saw the burned houses, the fear in the eyes of the fleeing Tutsi, and the arrogance and the hate in the faces of their executioners, as in 1995 when I saw pictures of women and children assassinated by the RPF in the camps at Birava, I was overcome by revulsion. What crime had all these victims committed to deserve such a death?Marie Béatrice Umutesi, Surviving the SlaughterIn the “witness literature” on the Great Lakes, Marie Béatrice Umutesi's wrenching narrative surpasses all others by its searing, intensely personal quality. She bears testimony to an almost forgotten tragedy: Between October 1996 and September 1997, hundreds of thousands of Hutu refugees lost their lives in the course of a massive manhunt carried out by Rwandan-backed rebels and units of the Rwandan army.

Background: Meat industries in developing countries including Bangladesh are found to be challenged by severe hygienic and sanitation problems which are associated with heavy bacterial load on the different sites of carcasses and meat. Objectives: The major objectives of this study were to determine the bacterial load at the different risk sites of bovine carcasses and identification of pathogenic bacteria as well as to assess the associated hygienic and sanitation practices with public health significance of the isolated bacteria. Materials and Methods: The study on bacterial load of bovine carcasses was conducted on 200 swab samples of different risk sites of 20 bovine carcasses in the different slaughterhouses of Barishal City Corporation during the period from April to October 2017. The aseptically collected swab samples from different sites of bovine carcasses were processed and analyzed individually by standard bacteriological procedures for Total viable count (TVC), Total coliform count (TCC), Total Staphylococcus count (TSC) and Total Salmonella count (TSAC) and the bacterial species were identified by the conventional aerobic cultural, morphological and biochemical tests. The hygienic status and practices of slaughterhouses and workers were evaluated through a structured questionnaire survey and also a visual inspection. Results: Staphylococcus aureus (78.5%), Salmonella spp. (64.5%) and Escherichia coli (64.0%) were found widely prevalent bacteria on the surface of freshly slaughtered bovine carcasses. The mean TVC of bacteria at pre-and post-washing of the different risk sites of carcasses including neck, shoulder, rump and their used knife and workers’ hand was calculated and highest one was recorded for neck at both pre (8.17 ± 1.22) and post (8.41 ± 0.92) washings. These TVC were found higher compared to standards set by WHO. The TSC was found highest at shoulder site at both pre (7.26 ± 0.94) and post (7.43 ± 1.02) washing, whereas the neck site was found highest contaminated with E. coli (6.69 ± 1.06 and 6.87 ± 1.04) and Salmonella spp.(5.73 ± 1.05 and 6.07 ± 0.92), respectively. The questionnaire survey and visual inspection of slaughter houses revealed that none of the slaughterhouse workers received any training on slaughterhouses management and hygiene, not used any head and hair covering, protective clothes and hand gloves whereas only 25.33% workers washed their hands and 34.67% used clean water at slaughterhouses during processing of carcasses and meat. Conclusions: The slaughtering of the animals on the ground and then skinning and evisceration in the same place under poor hygienic conditions are the major risk factors for heavy bacterial contamination of carcasses which has been recognized as a threat to food safety and consumers health to foodborne illness. Therefore, it requires a serious attention from all relevant authorities to apply and maintain the basic hygienic slaughterhouse practices to prevent the bacterial contamination of carcasses to prevent food borne illness. However, these data should serve as a baseline for future comparisons in measuring the bacteriological status of beef carcasses in other districts and further research works.

Dairy systems require that each cow calves annually to have an efficient milk production cycle. In systems where milk production is maximized, the male offspring from dairy breed sires tend to have poor beef production traits and, therefore, can be of low economic value. Few studies have been published on the factors impacting early slaughtering of calves in peer-reviewed literature. Here we present an analysis of national data on calves slaughtered from 2018 to 2022 in Ireland. Data (Jan 2018-May 2022) on all cattle &lt;6 months of age were collated at a national level and were described at calf-, herd-, and county-levels. These data were statistically analyzed at per-capita slaughter rates (calves/calf born) using negative binomial regression models with an offset. There were 125,260 calves slaughtered early (1.09% of total births) recorded in the dataset from 1,364 birth herds during the study period, of which 94.8% (118,761) were male. 51.7% were classified as Friesian-cross (FRX), 11.5% Friesian (FR) and 32.1% Jersey-cross (JEX). The median age at slaughter was 16 days (Mean: 18.9 days; IQR: 13–22). The median calves/herd slaughtered was 16 (mean: 91.8); median calves/herd/year slaughtered was 21 (mean: 42.0). There was substantial variation in counts of calves slaughtered across herds, years, and counties. Herd calf slaughter rates and per capita calf slaughter rates increased significantly in 2022, with the highest rates over the time series. Calf slaughter rates varied significantly with herd size, year, and major breed (Jersey; JE). Herds which were more recently established tended to have higher calf slaughter rates. Herds that repeatedly slaughtered calves over 2 or more years tended to be larger and slaughtered more calves/herd/year. The slaughtering of calves is not widespread across the dairy industry in Ireland. The distribution of calves slaughtered per herd demonstrate that a small number of herds contributed disproportionately to calf slaughter numbers. Such herds tended to be very large (herd size), more recently established (2016 onwards), and have higher proportions of JE/JEX breed cattle. The outcomes of the present study provide an evidential base for the development of targeted industry-lead interventions with the aim of ending the routine early slaughter of calves.

Islam as a part of the social system comes with a mission as rahmah lil-‘alamin to take part in nation-building. On the other sides Indonesia is a multicultural country where Islam is one of the subsystems. Therefore, Islam should be introduced as the potential for an inclusive, democratic and pluralist. Sunan Kudus spreads Islam by way of acculturation traditions and local culture because at that time the majority of the population is Hindu Holy.This research includes the study of literature (library research) using the method of documentation and descriptive. Descriptive method is used to describe all of the information about the fatwa Sunan Kudus and his background. The researcher also used a historical approach to photographing the events of the past time.There are two findings in this study, namely: (1) Prohibition of slaughtering cows that produce discourse that the Kudus people have high awareness for religious tolerance when Islam was come to Kudus, (2) Character education in banning slaughter cows produced a discourse that architecture of Mosque and Kudus Minaret and fatwa "Prohibition of slaughtering cows" contains the educational value of inter-religious tolerance.Methods and strategies of propaganda Sunan Kudus conceived a view to educating the Muslim community in order to have a noble character, are willing to respect and appreciate the confidence the Hindu community who believed that the cow is considered sacred animals.

Background: Most of the developing countries including Bangladesh where humane treatment of slaughter animals is not satisfactorily practiced mainly due to poorly developed and implemented animal welfare legislation resulting in stress conditions and excessive suffering of animals. Objectives: The objective of this study was to assess the animal welfare knowledge and attitudes of animal transporters and butchers during transportation and slaughtering animals in local slaughter houses in Bangladesh Materials and Methods: This study was carried out from July to October 2017 at 40 local slaughter houses of 10 Upazilas in Mymensingh district. A pre-structured questionnaire was used to collect information from butchers at pre- and during slaughtering animals. The welfare data of 123 ruminant animals (84 cattle, 31 goats and 8 sheep) which were subjected to slaughter was collected by direct observation and examination. Results: Meat animals are usually purchased from the local market, some from farms and even from imported Indian cattle are usually transported from far away to slaughter houses. Significantly (p < 0.01) highest percentage of animals were transported by walking (42.28%), followed by truck (22.76%), pick-up van (20.33%), local vehicle (11.38%) and lowest by auto-rickshaw (3.25%). Small ruminants were kept in a lair-age for 1 to 2 days but most of the cattle were slaughtered upon arrival. Out of 123 animals investigated, 0.81 to 4.07% had lameness, 0.81 to 10.57% had skin lesions and 4.06 to 18.69% had dirty conditions in the different body regions. Diarrhea was recorded in 4.88% animals whereas 7.32% had nasal and 4.07% had ocular discharges. Lair-age was found in 85% slaughter houses with pacca (15.0%), kaccha (45.0%) and semi-pacca (40.0%) conditions but 80% had no bedding materials and 92.5% dirty floor condition. Mostly jute rope (89.43%) and halal method (100%) were used for casting and slaughtering of animals respectively without regular veterinary inspection. The stress caused by transportation and slaughtering of animals were not minimized due to lack of practice of animal welfare legislation in Bangladesh. Conclusions: The insufficient knowledge of animal transporters and butchers about animal behavior and animal welfare suggests that there is a need to improve animal welfare situation through training to the concerned people. Humane slaughter of animals may reduce the incidence of injury to the animals and less bruise to the carcasses that improve the meat quality. Keywords: Transportation, Slaughter house, Animal welfare, Animal handling, Butchers

In general, the determination of the price of cattle is based on the condition of the cattle's body. This will result in an unsatisfactory transfer of revenue value for farmers, because the bargaining position is still weak. In addition, transactions in the marketing chain of beef products and their by-products have not yet been solidly established, so the obligations and rights of some parties are not guaranteed. The objective was to analyze the role of stakeholders in each supply chain and distribution of value chains as revenue in the marketing transactions of cattle, beef, and derivative products. The study was conducted in West Timor, which has 85.0% of the cattle population in NTT. Four sample districts (Kupang, TTS, TTU and Belu) in 8 sample sub-districts or 16 sample villages were included in the study. Respondents in marketing activities consisted of farmers, village traders, sub-district/district traders, slaughter traders, inter-island traders, by-product/waste traders, as well as beef, cowhide, bone, and fat/blood processing industries. Data collection were conducted by a questionnaire-based interview. The data were analyzed descriptively-quantitatively with a supply chain analysis model. It canbe concluded that (1) Market supply chains include cattle traders (farmers, village traders, sub-district traders, inter-island traders and slaughtering traders), as well as beef traders (fresh beef retailers, frozen beef exporting traders, and processed beef products traders); (2) The ideal model of the value chain in the form of revenue share from marketing of cattle, beef, processed beef products, by-products, and cattle waste has not been fully established in NTT; (3) The ideal model includes five marketing blocks (cattle block, beef block, processed beef block, by-product block, and waste block).

Introduction: Chicken meat is a source of protein in the human diet. Protein content and values define the quality of chicken meat. This research aimed to analyze variations of protein profiles in chicken breast muscles from different slaughtering houses by using proteomic strategies. Methods: Total proteins of chicken breast muscles from three different slaughtering houses (Sample A, Sample B and Sample C) were extracted and quantified by using Bradford assay. Then, the proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE to monitor the quality of extracted proteins. Protein profiles in different samples were compared by 2D-GE analysis. Results: The most highly expressed protein band was located between the molecular size of 37-50 kD in all samples and it was expected to be betaactin. While resolved in 2D-PAGE, differences in protein expression were observed between samples. There were three spots expressed with highest intensity in Sample B compared to others. The protein spot detected at pH 5.28 and the size range between 50- 75 kD was predicted to be NADPH-cytochrome P450 reductase (CPR), at pH 6.45 and molecular weight between 37-50 kD was expected to be creatine kinase M-type (M-CK) while at pH 6.78 and molecular size nearly 25 kD was expected to be αB-crystallin. Conclusions: It can be mentioned that these proteins could play a vital role in mechanisms that contribute to the poor quality of chicken meat.

The aim of this study was to investigate the occurrence of antibiotic residues in the poultry meat. The effect of different thermal treatment on antibiotic residues were studied. Eighty Carcass of poultry were examined, the samples were taken from locally poultry Slaughter houses in Thamar city, from each Carcass three Samples were examined (muscles, liver, and kidneys). The test was done by direct microbiological method and by extraction method, Bacillus subtilus was selected for detection of antibiotic residues. Results revealed presence of antibiotic residues in muscles , livers and kidneys , and the percentage of this residues according to direct microbiological method were (6.3%) , (8.8%) and (12.5%) ,while the percentage of this residues according to extraction method were (5.0% ), (6.3%) and (11.3%) respectively. This study registered that the cooling temperature at 4 C˚ for a period of 3 days gave the affect on the remains of antibiotics in muscles and livers, the percentage of this residues according to direct microbiological method were (60.0%) and (57.1%), while the percentage of this residue according to extraction method were (50.0%) and (60.0%) respectively .Also the freezing at (-18) C˚ for a period of 4 week gave the affect on the remains of antibiotics in muscles, livers and kidneys, the percentage of this residues according to direct microbiological method were ( 60.0%) , (71.4%) and (80.0%) , while the percentage of this residue according to extraction method were (50.0%) , (80.0%) , and (77.8%) respectively .As for the cooking (boiling) temperature for 30 minutes for muscles and 15 minutes for livers showed full affect on the presence of remains of antibiotics for all samples undergoing examination in muscles and livers 100%, the result of examination was negative. This results highlights a potential public health problems and health risks to the consumers reflected in antibiotic resistance, teratogenicity, carcinogenicity, hepatic and renal failure. Veterinary control of withdrawal period between administration of antibiotic in poultry farm and slaughtering can reduce the occurrence of antibiotic residues and improve the quality of poultry meat

Background: The diversity of different climatic conditions and altitudes of UTs of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh (erstwhile J and K state) has given rise to differential adaptive mechanisms that enable goats to cope effectively with a variety of stressful environmental conditions. Jammu city (with an altitude of 327m to 412 m), like the rest of north-western India, features a humid subtropical climate. Ladakh is the dry temperate region and the highest plateau in the state of Jammu and Kashmir with much of it ranging from 3,000 m (9,800 ft) to 5,000–5,500 m (16,000–18,050 ft). There has been no systemic study on the probable comparative variation in micrometry of lungs in high altitude Pashmina goats of Ladakh and migratory Bakerwali and non-descript goats of Jammu and Kashmir, which live in regions with varied altitudes. Respiratory system plays a vital role in exchange of oxygen, olfaction, phonation and thermoregulation of the body. No literature on the comparative micrometry of the lungs in these three goat populations was found and such paucity of available literature prompted this present study. Methods: The work was done in the lung samples of adult Pashmina, Bakerwali and non-descript goats (N=10 each) collected from slaughter houses of UT of Ladakh and in and around Jammu city of UT of J and K. The representative tissue samples from lungs of all the goats were preserved in 10% Neutral Buffered Formalin (NBF) solution, processed for paraffin block preparation, tissue sections of 5 mm thickness were obtained and stained with Hematoxylin and Eosin to record various micrometrical parameters. Results: Our study revealed that significantly largest alveolar diameter and thinnest inter alveolar septal thickness was recorded in Pashmina goats followed by Bakerwali and non-descript goats. This might be due to the adaptive morphological phenomenon of the Pashmina goats which are natural habitants of high altitudes of the Himalayan regions for better utilization of the oxygen in hypoxic conditions.

In Ireland today, we eat more pigmeat per capita, approximately 32.4 kilograms, than any other meat, yet you very seldom if ever see a pig (C.S.O.). Fat and flavour are two words that are synonymous with pig meat, yet scientists have spent the last thirty years cross breeding to produce leaner, low-fat pigs. Today’s pig professionals prefer to use the term “pig finishing” as opposed to the more traditional “pig fattening” (Tuite). The pig evokes many themes in relation to cuisine. Charles Lamb (1775-1834), in his essay Dissertation upon Roast Pig, cites Confucius in attributing the accidental discovery of the art of roasting to the humble pig. The pig has been singled out by many cultures as a food to be avoided or even abhorred, and Harris (1997) illustrates the environmental effect this avoidance can have by contrasting the landscape of Christian Albania with that of Muslim Albania.This paper will focus on the pig in Irish cuisine and culture from ancient times to the present day. The inspiration for this paper comes from a folklore tale about how Saint Martin created the pig from a piece of fat. The story is one of a number recorded by Seán Ó Conaill, the famous Kerry storyteller and goes as follows:From St Martin’s fat they were made. He was travelling around, and one night he came to a house and yard. At that time there were only cattle; there were no pigs or piglets. He asked the man of the house if there was anything to eat the chaff and the grain. The man replied there were only the cattle. St Martin said it was a great pity to have that much chaff going to waste. At night when they were going to bed, he handed a piece of fat to the servant-girl and told her to put it under a tub, and not to look at it at all until he would give her the word next day. The girl did so, but she kept a bit of the fat and put it under a keeler to find out what it would be.When St Martin rose next day he asked her to go and lift up the tub. She lifted it up, and there under it were a sow and twelve piglets. It was a great wonder to them, as they had never before seen pig or piglet.The girl then went to the keeler and lifted it, and it was full of mice and rats! As soon as the keeler was lifted, they went running about the house searching for any hole that they could go into. When St Martin saw them, he pulled off one of his mittens and threw it at them and made a cat with that throw. And that is why the cat ever since goes after mice and rats (Ó Conaill).The place of the pig has long been established in Irish literature, and longer still in Irish topography. The word torc, a boar, like the word muc, a pig, is a common element of placenames, from Kanturk (boar’s head) in West Cork to Ros Muc (headland of pigs) in West Galway. The Irish pig had its place in literature well established long before George Orwell’s English pig, Major, headed the dictatorship in Animal Farm. It was a wild boar that killed the hero Diarmaid in the Fenian tale The Pursuit of Diarmaid and Gráinne, on top of Ben Bulben in County Sligo (Mac Con Iomaire). In Ancient and Medieval Ireland, wild boars were hunted with great fervour, and the prime cuts were reserved for the warrior classes, and certain other individuals. At a feast, a leg of pork was traditionally reserved for a king, a haunch for a queen, and a boar’s head for a charioteer. The champion warrior was given the best portion of meat (Curath Mhir or Champions’ Share), and fights often took place to decide who should receive it. Gantz (1981) describes how in the ninth century tale The story of Mac Dathó’s Pig, Cet mac Matach, got supremacy over the men of Ireland: “Moreover he flaunted his valour on high above the valour of the host, and took a knife in his hand and sat down beside the pig. “Let someone be found now among the men of Ireland”, said he, “to endure battle with me, or leave the pig for me to divide!”It did not take long before the wild pigs were domesticated. Whereas cattle might be kept for milk and sheep for wool, the only reason for pig rearing was as a source of food. Until the late medieval period, the “domesticated” pigs were fattened on woodland mast, the fruit of the beech, oak, chestnut and whitethorn, giving their flesh a delicious flavour. So important was this resource that it is acknowledged by an entry in the Annals of Clonmacnoise for the year 1038: “There was such an abundance of ackornes this yeare that it fattened the pigges [runts] of pigges” (Sexton 45). In another mythological tale, two pig keepers, one called ‘friuch’ after the boars bristle (pig keeper to the king of Munster) and the other called ‘rucht’ after its grunt (pig keeper to the king of Connacht), were such good friends that the one from the north would bring his pigs south when there was a mast of oak and beech nuts in Munster. If the mast fell in Connacht, the pig-keeper from the south would travel northward. Competitive jealousy sparked by troublemakers led to the pig keepers casting spells on each other’s herds to the effect that no matter what mast they ate they would not grow fat. Both pig keepers were practised in the pagan arts and could form themselves into any shape, and having been dismissed by their kings for the leanness of their pig herds due to the spells, they eventually formed themselves into the two famous bulls that feature in the Irish Epic The Táin (Kinsella).In the witty and satirical twelfth century text, The Vision of Mac Conglinne (Aisling Mhic Conglinne), many references are made to the various types of pig meat. Bacon, hams, sausages and puddings are often mentioned, and the gate to the fortress in the visionary land of plenty is described thus: “there was a gate of tallow to it, whereon was a bolt of sausage” (Jackson).Although pigs were always popular in Ireland, the emergence of the potato resulted in an increase in both human and pig populations. The Irish were the first Europeans to seriously consider the potato as a staple food. By 1663 it was widely accepted in Ireland as an important food plant and by 1770 it was known as the Irish Potato (Mac Con Iomaire and Gallagher). The potato transformed Ireland from an under populated island of one million in the 1590s to 8.2 million in 1840, making it the most densely populated country in Europe. Two centuries of genetic evolution resulted in potato yields growing from two tons per acre in 1670 to ten tons per acre in 1800. A constant supply of potato, which was not seen as a commercial crop, ensured that even the smallest holding could keep a few pigs on a potato-rich diet. Pat Tuite, an expert on pigs with Teagasc, the Irish Agricultural and Food Development Authority, reminded me that the potatoes were cooked for the pigs and that they also enjoyed whey, the by product of both butter and cheese making (Tuite). The agronomist, Arthur Young, while travelling through Ireland, commented in 1770 that in the town of Mitchelstown in County Cork “there seemed to be more pigs than human beings”. So plentiful were pigs at this time that on the eve of the Great Famine in 1841 the pig population was calculated to be 1,412,813 (Sexton 46). Some of the pigs were kept for home consumption but the rest were a valuable source of income and were shown great respect as the gentleman who paid the rent. Until the early twentieth century most Irish rural households kept some pigs.Pork was popular and was the main meat eaten at all feasts in the main houses; indeed a feast was considered incomplete without a whole roasted pig. In the poorer holdings, fresh pork was highly prized, as it was only available when a pig of their own was killed. Most of the pig was salted, placed in the brine barrel for a period or placed up the chimney for smoking.Certain superstitions were observed concerning the time of killing. Pigs were traditionally killed only in months that contained the letter “r”, since the heat of the summer months caused the meat to turn foul. In some counties it was believed that pigs should be killed under the full moon (Mahon 58). The main breed of pig from the medieval period was the Razor Back or Greyhound Pig, which was very efficient in converting organic waste into meat (Fitzgerald). The killing of the pig was an important ritual and a social occasion in rural Ireland, for it meant full and plenty for all. Neighbours, who came to help, brought a handful of salt for the curing, and when the work was done each would get a share of the puddings and the fresh pork. There were a number of days where it was traditional to kill a pig, the Michaelmas feast (29 September), Saint Martins Day (11 November) and St Patrick’s Day (17 March). Olive Sharkey gives a vivid description of the killing of the barrow pig in rural Ireland during the 1930s. A barrow pig is a male pig castrated before puberty:The local slaughterer (búistéir) a man experienced in the rustic art of pig killing, was approached to do the job, though some farmers killed their own pigs. When the búistéirarrived the whole family gathered round to watch the killing. His first job was to plunge the knife in the pig’s heart via the throat, using a special knife. The screeching during this performance was something awful, but the animal died instantly once the heart had been reached, usually to a round of applause from the onlookers. The animal was then draped across a pig-gib, a sort of bench, and had the fine hairs on its body scraped off. To make this a simple job the animal was immersed in hot water a number of times until the bristles were softened and easy to remove. If a few bristles were accidentally missed the bacon was known as ‘hairy bacon’!During the killing of the pig it was imperative to draw a good flow of blood to ensure good quality meat. This blood was collected in a bucket for the making of puddings. The carcass would then be hung from a hook in the shed with a basin under its head to catch the drip, and a potato was often placed in the pig’s mouth to aid the dripping process. After a few days the carcass would be dissected. Sharkey recalls that her father maintained that each pound weight in the pig’s head corresponded to a stone weight in the body. The body was washed and then each piece that was to be preserved was carefully salted and placed neatly in a barrel and hermetically sealed. It was customary in parts of the midlands to add brown sugar to the barrel at this stage, while in other areas juniper berries were placed in the fire when hanging the hams and flitches (sides of bacon), wrapped in brown paper, in the chimney for smoking (Sharkey 166). While the killing was predominantly men’s work, it was the women who took most responsibility for the curing and smoking. Puddings have always been popular in Irish cuisine. The pig’s intestines were washed well and soaked in a stream, and a mixture of onions, lard, spices, oatmeal and flour were mixed with the blood and the mixture was stuffed into the casing and boiled for about an hour, cooled and the puddings were divided amongst the neighbours.The pig was so palatable that the famous gastronomic writer Grimod de la Reyniere once claimed that the only piece you couldn’t eat was the “oink”. Sharkey remembers her father remarking that had they been able to catch the squeak they would have made tin whistles out of it! No part went to waste; the blood and offal were used, the trotters were known as crubeens (from crúb, hoof), and were boiled and eaten with cabbage. In Galway the knee joint was popular and known as the glúiníns (from glún, knee). The head was roasted whole or often boiled and pressed and prepared as Brawn. The chitterlings (small intestines) were meticulously prepared by continuous washing in cool water and the picking out of undigested food and faeces. Chitterlings were once a popular bar food in Dublin. Pig hair was used for paintbrushes and the bladder was occasionally inflated, using a goose quill, to be used as a football by the children. Meindertsma (2007) provides a pictorial review of the vast array of products derived from a single pig. These range from ammunition and porcelain to chewing gum.From around the mid-eighteenth century, commercial salting of pork and bacon grew rapidly in Ireland. 1820 saw Henry Denny begin operation in Waterford where he both developed and patented several production techniques for bacon. Bacon curing became a very important industry in Munster culminating in the setting up of four large factories. Irish bacon was the brand leader and the Irish companies exported their expertise. Denny set up a plant in Denmark in 1894 and introduced the Irish techniques to the Danish industry, while O’Mara’s set up bacon curing facilities in Russia in 1891 (Cowan and Sexton). Ireland developed an extensive export trade in bacon to England, and hams were delivered to markets in Paris, India, North and South America. The “sandwich method” of curing, or “dry cure”, was used up until 1862 when the method of injecting strong brine into the meat by means of a pickling pump was adopted by Irish bacon-curers. 1887 saw the formation of the Bacon Curers’ Pig Improvement Association and they managed to introduce a new breed, the Large White Ulster into most regions by the turn of the century. This breed was suitable for the production of “Wiltshire” bacon. Cork, Waterford Dublin and Belfast were important centres for bacon but it was Limerick that dominated the industry and a Department of Agriculture document from 1902 suggests that the famous “Limerick cure” may have originated by chance:1880 […] Limerick producers were short of money […] they produced what was considered meat in a half-cured condition. The unintentional cure proved extremely popular and others followed suit. By the turn of the century the mild cure procedure was brought to such perfection that meat could [… be] sent to tropical climates for consumption within a reasonable time (Cowan and Sexton).Failure to modernise led to the decline of bacon production in Limerick in the 1960s and all four factories closed down. The Irish pig market was protected prior to joining the European Union. There were no imports, and exports were subsidised by the Pigs and Bacon Commission. The Department of Agriculture started pig testing in the early 1960s and imported breeds from the United Kingdom and Scandinavia. The two main breeds were Large White and Landrace. Most farms kept pigs before joining the EU but after 1972, farmers were encouraged to rationalise and specialise. Grants were made available for facilities that would keep 3,000 pigs and these grants kick started the development of large units.Pig keeping and production were not only rural occupations; Irish towns and cities also had their fair share. Pigs could easily be kept on swill from hotels, restaurants, not to mention the by-product and leftovers of the brewing and baking industries. Ed Hick, a fourth generation pork butcher from south County Dublin, recalls buying pigs from a local coal man and bus driver and other locals for whom it was a tradition to keep pigs on the side. They would keep some six or eight pigs at a time and feed them on swill collected locally. Legislation concerning the feeding of swill introduced in 1985 (S.I.153) and an amendment in 1987 (S.I.133) required all swill to be heat-treated and resulted in most small operators going out of business. Other EU directives led to the shutting down of thousands of slaughterhouses across Europe. Small producers like Hick who slaughtered at most 25 pigs a week in their family slaughterhouse, states that it was not any one rule but a series of them that forced them to close. It was not uncommon for three inspectors, a veterinarian, a meat inspector and a hygiene inspector, to supervise himself and his brother at work. Ed Hick describes the situation thus; “if we had taken them on in a game of football, we would have lost! We were seen as a huge waste of veterinary time and manpower”.Sausages and rashers have long been popular in Dublin and are the main ingredients in the city’s most famous dish “Dublin Coddle.” Coddle is similar to an Irish stew except that it uses pork rashers and sausage instead of lamb. It was, traditionally, a Saturday night dish when the men came home from the public houses. Terry Fagan has a book on Dublin Folklore called Monto: Murder, Madams and Black Coddle. The black coddle resulted from soot falling down the chimney into the cauldron. James Joyce describes Denny’s sausages with relish in Ulysses, and like many other Irish emigrants, he would welcome visitors from home only if they brought Irish sausages and Irish whiskey with them. Even today, every family has its favourite brand of sausages: Byrne’s, Olhausens, Granby’s, Hafner’s, Denny’s Gold Medal, Kearns and Superquinn are among the most popular. Ironically the same James Joyce, who put Dublin pork kidneys on the world table in Ulysses, was later to call his native Ireland “the old sow that eats her own farrow” (184-5).The last thirty years have seen a concerted effort to breed pigs that have less fat content and leaner meat. There are no pure breeds of Landrace or Large White in production today for they have been crossbred for litter size, fat content and leanness (Tuite). Many experts feel that they have become too lean, to the detriment of flavour and that the meat can tend to split when cooked. Pig production is now a complicated science and tighter margins have led to only large-scale operations being financially viable (Whittemore). The average size of herd has grown from 29 animals in 1973, to 846 animals in 1997, and the highest numbers are found in counties Cork and Cavan (Lafferty et al.). The main players in today’s pig production/processing are the large Irish Agribusiness Multinationals Glanbia, Kerry Foods and Dairygold. Tuite (2002) expressed worries among the industry that there may be no pig production in Ireland in twenty years time, with production moving to Eastern Europe where feed and labour are cheaper. When it comes to traceability, in the light of the Foot and Mouth, BSE and Dioxin scares, many feel that things were much better in the old days, when butchers like Ed Hick slaughtered animals that were reared locally and then sold them back to local consumers. Hick has recently killed pigs for friends who have begun keeping them for home consumption. This slaughtering remains legal as long as the meat is not offered for sale.Although bacon and cabbage, and the full Irish breakfast with rashers, sausages and puddings, are considered to be some of Ireland’s most well known traditional dishes, there has been a growth in modern interpretations of traditional pork and bacon dishes in the repertoires of the seemingly ever growing number of talented Irish chefs. Michael Clifford popularised Clonakilty Black Pudding as a starter in his Cork restaurant Clifford’s in the late 1980s, and its use has become widespread since, as a starter or main course often partnered with either caramelised apples or red onion marmalade. Crubeens (pigs trotters) have been modernised “a la Pierre Kaufman” by a number of Irish chefs, who bone them out and stuff them with sweetbreads. Kevin Thornton, the first Irish chef to be awarded two Michelin stars, has roasted suckling pig as one of his signature dishes. Richard Corrigan is keeping the Irish flag flying in London in his Michelin starred Soho restaurant, Lindsay House, where traditional pork and bacon dishes from his childhood are creatively re-interpreted with simplicity and taste.Pork, ham and bacon are, without doubt, the most traditional of all Irish foods, featuring in the diet since prehistoric times. Although these meats remain the most consumed per capita in post “Celtic Tiger” Ireland, there are a number of threats facing the country’s pig industry. Large-scale indoor production necessitates the use of antibiotics. European legislation and economic factors have contributed in the demise of the traditional art of pork butchery. Scientific advancements have resulted in leaner low-fat pigs, many argue, to the detriment of flavour. Alas, all is not lost. There is a growth in consumer demand for quality local food, and some producers like J. Hick & Sons, and Prue & David Rudd and Family are leading the way. The Rudds process and distribute branded antibiotic-free pig related products with the mission of “re-inventing the tastes of bygone days with the quality of modern day standards”. Few could argue with the late Irish writer John B. Keane (72): “When this kind of bacon is boiling with its old colleague, white cabbage, there is a gurgle from the pot that would tear the heart out of any hungry man”.ReferencesCowan, Cathal and Regina Sexton. Ireland's Traditional Foods: An Exploration of Irish Local & Typical Foods & Drinks. Dublin: Teagasc, 1997.C.S.O. Central Statistics Office. Figures on per capita meat consumption for 2009, 2010. Ireland. http://www.cso.ie.Fitzgerald, Oisin. "The Irish 'Greyhound' Pig: an extinct indigenous breed of Pig." History Ireland13.4 (2005): 20-23.Gantz, Jeffrey Early Irish Myths and Sagas. New York: Penguin, 1981.Harris, Marvin. "The Abominable Pig." Food and Culture: A Reader. Eds. Carole Counihan and Penny Van Esterik. New York: Routledge, 1997. 67-79.Hick, Edward. Personal Communication with master butcher Ed Hick. 15 Apr. 2002.Hick, Edward. Personal Communication concerning pig killing. 5 Sep. 2010.Jackson, K. H. Ed. Aislinge Meic Con Glinne, Dublin: Institute of Advanced Studies, 1990.Joyce, James. The Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, London: Granada, 1977.Keane, John B. Strong Tea. Cork: Mercier Press, 1963.Kinsella, Thomas. The Táin. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970.Lafferty, S., Commins, P. and Walsh, J. A. Irish Agriculture in Transition: A Census Atlas of Agriculture in the Republic of Ireland. Dublin: Teagasc, 1999.Mac Con Iomaire, Liam. Ireland of the Proverb. Dublin: Town House, 1988.Mac Con Iomaire, Máirtín and Pádraic Óg Gallagher. "The Potato in Irish Cuisine and Culture."Journal of Culinary Science and Technology 7.2-3 (2009): 1-16.Mahon, Bríd. Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food and Drink. Cork:Mercier, 1998.Meindertsma, Christien. PIG 05049 2007. 10 Aug. 2010 http://www.christienmeindertsma.com.Ó Conaill, Seán. Seán Ó Conaill's Book. Bailie Átha Cliath: Bhéaloideas Éireann, 1981.Sexton, Regina. A Little History of Irish Food. Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, 1998.Sharkey, Olive. Old Days Old Ways: An Illustrated Folk History of Ireland. Dublin: The O'Brien Press, 1985.S.I. 153, 1985 (Irish Legislation) http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1985/en/si/0153.htmlS.I. 133, 1987 (Irish Legislation) http://www.irishstatuebook.ie/1987/en/si/0133.htmlTuite, Pat. Personal Communication with Pat Tuite, Chief Pig Advisor, Teagasc. 3 May 2002.Whittemore, Colin T. and Ilias Kyriazakis. Whitmore's Science and Practice of Pig Production 3rdEdition. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2006.

Introduction Food has always been an essential component of daily life. Today, thinking about food is a much more complicated pursuit than planning the next meal, with food studies scholars devoting their efforts to researching “anything pertaining to food and eating, from how food is grown to when and how it is eaten, to who eats it and with whom, and the nutritional quality” (Duran and MacDonald 234). This is in addition to the work undertaken by an increasingly wide variety of popular culture researchers who explore all aspects of food (Risson and Brien 3): including food advertising, food packaging, food on television, and food in popular fiction. In creating stories, from those works that quickly disappear from bookstore shelves to those that become entrenched in the literary canon, writers use food to communicate the everyday and to explore a vast range of ideas from cultural background to social standing, and also use food to provide perspectives “into the cultural and historical uniqueness of a given social group” (Piatti-Farnell 80). For example in Oliver Twist (1838) by Charles Dickens, the central character challenges the class system when: “Child as he was, he was desperate with hunger and reckless with misery. He rose from the table, and advancing basin and spoon in hand, to the master, said, somewhat alarmed at his own temerity–‘Please, sir, I want some more’” (11). Scarlett O’Hara in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (1936) makes a similar point, a little more dramatically, when she declares: “As God is my witness, I’m never going to be hungry again” (419). Food can also take us into the depths of another culture: places that many of us will only ever read about. Food is also used to provide insight into a character’s state of mind. In Nora Ephron’s Heartburn (1983) an item as simple as boiled bread tells a reader so much more about Rachel Samstat than her preferred bakery items: “So we got married and I got pregnant and I gave up my New York apartment and moved to Washington. Talk about mistakes [...] there I was, trying to hold up my end in a city where you can’t even buy a decent bagel” (34). There are three ways in which writers can deal with food within their work. Firstly, food can be totally ignored. This approach is sometimes taken despite food being such a standard feature of storytelling that its absence, be it a lonely meal at home, elegant canapés at an impressively catered cocktail party, or a cheap sandwich collected from a local café, is an obvious omission. Food can also add realism to a story, with many authors putting as much effort into conjuring the smell, taste, and texture of food as they do into providing a backstory and a purpose for their characters. In recent years, a third way has emerged with some writers placing such importance upon food in fiction that the line that divides the cookbook and the novel has become distorted. This article looks at cookbooks and cookery in popular fiction with a particular focus on crime novels. Recipes: Ingredients and Preparation Food in fiction has been employed, with great success, to help characters cope with grief; giving them the reassurance that only comes through the familiarity of the kitchen and the concentration required to fulfil routine tasks: to chop and dice, to mix, to sift and roll, to bake, broil, grill, steam, and fry. Such grief can come from the breakdown of a relationship as seen in Nora Ephron’s Heartburn (1983). An autobiography under the guise of fiction, this novel is the first-person story of a cookbook author, a description that irritates the narrator as she feels her works “aren’t merely cookbooks” (95). She is, however, grateful she was not described as “a distraught, rejected, pregnant cookbook author whose husband was in love with a giantess” (95). As the collapse of the marriage is described, her favourite recipes are shared: Bacon Hash; Four Minute Eggs; Toasted Almonds; Lima Beans with Pears; Linguine Alla Cecca; Pot Roast; three types of Potatoes; Sorrel Soup; desserts including Bread Pudding, Cheesecake, Key Lime Pie and Peach Pie; and a Vinaigrette, all in an effort to reassert her personal skills and thus personal value. Grief can also result from loss of hope and the realisation that a life long dreamed of will never be realised. Like Water for Chocolate (1989), by Laura Esquivel, is the magical realist tale of Tita De La Garza who, as the youngest daughter, is forbidden to marry as she must take care of her mother, a woman who: “Unquestionably, when it came to dividing, dismantling, dismembering, desolating, detaching, dispossessing, destroying or dominating […] was a pro” (87). Tita’s life lurches from one painful, unjust episode to the next; the only emotional stability she has comes from the kitchen, and from her cooking of a series of dishes: Christmas Rolls; Chabela Wedding Cake; Quail in Rose Petal Sauce; Turkey Mole; Northern-style Chorizo; Oxtail Soup; Champandongo; Chocolate and Three Kings’s Day Bread; Cream Fritters; and Beans with Chilli Tezcucana-style. This is a series of culinary-based activities that attempts to superimpose normalcy on a life that is far from the everyday. Grief is most commonly associated with death. Undertaking the selection, preparation and presentation of meals in novels dealing with bereavement is both a functional and symbolic act: life must go on for those left behind but it must go on in a very different way. Thus, novels that use food to deal with loss are particularly important because they can “make non-cooks believe they can cook, and for frequent cooks, affirm what they already know: that cooking heals” (Baltazar online). In Angelina’s Bachelors (2011) by Brian O’Reilly, Angelina D’Angelo believes “cooking was not just about food. It was about character” (2). By the end of the first chapter the young woman’s husband is dead and she is in the kitchen looking for solace, and survival, in cookery. In The Kitchen Daughter (2011) by Jael McHenry, Ginny Selvaggio is struggling to cope with the death of her parents and the friends and relations who crowd her home after the funeral. Like Angelina, Ginny retreats to the kitchen. There are, of course, exceptions. In Ntozake Shange’s Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), cooking celebrates, comforts, and seduces (Calta). This story of three sisters from South Carolina is told through diary entries, narrative, letters, poetry, songs, and spells. Recipes are also found throughout the text: Turkey; Marmalade; Rice; Spinach; Crabmeat; Fish; Sweetbread; Duck; Lamb; and, Asparagus. Anthony Capella’s The Food of Love (2004), a modern retelling of the classic tale of Cyrano de Bergerac, is about the beautiful Laura, a waiter masquerading as a top chef Tommaso, and the talented Bruno who, “thick-set, heavy, and slightly awkward” (21), covers for Tommaso’s incompetency in the kitchen as he, too, falls for Laura. The novel contains recipes and contains considerable information about food: Take fusilli […] People say this pasta was designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself. The spiral fins carry the biggest amount of sauce relative to the surface area, you see? But it only works with a thick, heavy sauce that can cling to the grooves. Conchiglie, on the other hand, is like a shell, so it holds a thin, liquid sauce inside it perfectly (17). Recipes: Dishing Up Death Crime fiction is a genre with a long history of focusing on food; from the theft of food in the novels of the nineteenth century to the utilisation of many different types of food such as chocolate, marmalade, and sweet omelettes to administer poison (Berkeley, Christie, Sayers), the latter vehicle for arsenic receiving much attention in Harriet Vane’s trial in Dorothy L. Sayers’s Strong Poison (1930). The Judge, in summing up the case, states to the members of the jury: “Four eggs were brought to the table in their shells, and Mr Urquhart broke them one by one into a bowl, adding sugar from a sifter [...he then] cooked the omelette in a chafing dish, filled it with hot jam” (14). Prior to what Timothy Taylor has described as the “pre-foodie era” the crime fiction genre was “littered with corpses whose last breaths smelled oddly sweet, or bitter, or of almonds” (online). Of course not all murders are committed in such a subtle fashion. In Roald Dahl’s Lamb to the Slaughter (1953), Mary Maloney murders her policeman husband, clubbing him over the head with a frozen leg of lamb. The meat is roasting nicely when her husband’s colleagues arrive to investigate his death, the lamb is offered and consumed: the murder weapon now beyond the recovery of investigators. Recent years have also seen more and more crime fiction writers present a central protagonist working within the food industry, drawing connections between the skills required for food preparation and those needed to catch a murderer. Working with cooks or crooks, or both, requires planning and people skills in addition to creative thinking, dedication, reliability, stamina, and a willingness to take risks. Kent Carroll insists that “food and mysteries just go together” (Carroll in Calta), with crime fiction website Stop, You’re Killing Me! listing, at the time of writing, over 85 culinary-based crime fiction series, there is certainly sufficient evidence to support his claim. Of the numerous works available that focus on food there are many series that go beyond featuring food and beverages, to present recipes as well as the solving of crimes. These include: the Candy Holliday Murder Mysteries by B. B. Haywood; the Coffeehouse Mysteries by Cleo Coyle; the Hannah Swensen Mysteries by Joanne Fluke; the Hemlock Falls Mysteries by Claudia Bishop; the Memphis BBQ Mysteries by Riley Adams; the Piece of Cake Mysteries by Jacklyn Brady; the Tea Shop Mysteries by Laura Childs; and, the White House Chef Mysteries by Julie Hyzy. The vast majority of offerings within this female dominated sub-genre that has been labelled “Crime and Dine” (Collins online) are American, both in origin and setting. A significant contribution to this increasingly popular formula is, however, from an Australian author Kerry Greenwood. Food features within her famed Phryne Fisher Series with recipes included in A Question of Death (2007). Recipes also form part of Greenwood’s food-themed collection of short crime stories Recipes for Crime (1995), written with Jenny Pausacker. These nine stories, each one imitating the style of one of crime fiction’s greatest contributors (from Agatha Christie to Raymond Chandler), allow readers to simultaneously access mysteries and recipes. 2004 saw the first publication of Earthly Delights and the introduction of her character, Corinna Chapman. This series follows the adventures of a woman who gave up a career as an accountant to open her own bakery in Melbourne. Corinna also investigates the occasional murder. Recipes can be found at the end of each of these books with the Corinna Chapman Recipe Book (nd), filled with instructions for baking bread, muffins and tea cakes in addition to recipes for main courses such as risotto, goulash, and “Chicken with Pineapple 1971 Style”, available from the publisher’s website. Recipes: Integration and Segregation In Heartburn (1983), Rachel acknowledges that presenting a work of fiction and a collection of recipes within a single volume can present challenges, observing: “I see that I haven’t managed to work in any recipes for a while. It’s hard to work in recipes when you’re moving the plot forward” (99). How Rachel tells her story is, however, a reflection of how she undertakes her work, with her own cookbooks being, she admits, more narration than instruction: “The cookbooks I write do well. They’re very personal and chatty–they’re cookbooks in an almost incidental way. I write chapters about friends or relatives or trips or experiences, and work in the recipes peripherally” (17). Some authors integrate detailed recipes into their narratives through description and dialogue. An excellent example of this approach can be found in the Coffeehouse Mystery Series by Cleo Coyle, in the novel On What Grounds (2003). When the central protagonist is being questioned by police, Clare Cosi’s answers are interrupted by a flashback scene and instructions on how to make Greek coffee: Three ounces of water and one very heaped teaspoon of dark roast coffee per serving. (I used half Italian roast, and half Maracaibo––a lovely Venezuelan coffee, named after the country’s major port; rich in flavour, with delicate wine overtones.) / Water and finely ground beans both go into the ibrik together. The water is then brought to a boil over medium heat (37). This provides insight into Clare’s character; that, when under pressure, she focuses her mind on what she firmly believes to be true – not the information that she is doubtful of or a situation that she is struggling to understand. Yet breaking up the action within a novel in this way–particularly within crime fiction, a genre that is predominantly dependant upon generating tension and building the pacing of the plotting to the climax–is an unusual but ultimately successful style of writing. Inquiry and instruction are comfortable bedfellows; as the central protagonists within these works discover whodunit, the readers discover who committed murder as well as a little bit more about one of the world’s most popular beverages, thus highlighting how cookbooks and novels both serve to entertain and to educate. Many authors will save their recipes, serving them up at the end of a story. This can be seen in Julie Hyzy’s White House Chef Mystery novels, the cover of each volume in the series boasts that it “includes Recipes for a Complete Presidential Menu!” These menus, with detailed ingredients lists, instructions for cooking and options for serving, are segregated from the stories and appear at the end of each work. Yet other writers will deploy a hybrid approach such as the one seen in Like Water for Chocolate (1989), where the ingredients are listed at the commencement of each chapter and the preparation for the recipes form part of the narrative. This method of integration is also deployed in The Kitchen Daughter (2011), which sees most of the chapters introduced with a recipe card, those chapters then going on to deal with action in the kitchen. Using recipes as chapter breaks is a structure that has, very recently, been adopted by Australian celebrity chef, food writer, and, now fiction author, Ed Halmagyi, in his new work, which is both cookbook and novel, The Food Clock: A Year of Cooking Seasonally (2012). As people exchange recipes in reality, so too do fictional characters. The Recipe Club (2009), by Andrea Israel and Nancy Garfinkel, is the story of two friends, Lilly Stone and Valerie Rudman, which is structured as an epistolary novel. As they exchange feelings, ideas and news in their correspondence, they also exchange recipes: over eighty of them throughout the novel in e-mails and letters. In The Food of Love (2004), written messages between two of the main characters are also used to share recipes. In addition, readers are able to post their own recipes, inspired by this book and other works by Anthony Capella, on the author’s website. From Page to Plate Some readers are contributing to the burgeoning food tourism market by seeking out the meals from the pages of their favourite novels in bars, cafés, and restaurants around the world, expanding the idea of “map as menu” (Spang 79). In Shannon McKenna Schmidt’s and Joni Rendon’s guide to literary tourism, Novel Destinations (2009), there is an entire section, “Eat Your Words: Literary Places to Sip and Sup”, dedicated to beverages and food. The listings include details for John’s Grill, in San Francisco, which still has on the menu Sam Spade’s Lamb Chops, served with baked potato and sliced tomatoes: a meal enjoyed by author Dashiell Hammett and subsequently consumed by his well-known protagonist in The Maltese Falcon (193), and the Café de la Paix, in Paris, frequented by Ian Fleming’s James Bond because “the food was good enough and it amused him to watch the people” (197). Those wanting to follow in the footsteps of writers can go to Harry’s Bar, in Venice, where the likes of Marcel Proust, Sinclair Lewis, Somerset Maugham, Ernest Hemingway, and Truman Capote have all enjoyed a drink (195) or The Eagle and Child, in Oxford, which hosted the regular meetings of the Inklings––a group which included C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien––in the wood-panelled Rabbit Room (203). A number of eateries have developed their own literary themes such as the Peacocks Tearooms, in Cambridgeshire, which blends their own teas. Readers who are also tea drinkers can indulge in the Sherlock Holmes (Earl Grey with Lapsang Souchong) and the Doctor Watson (Keemun and Darjeeling with Lapsang Souchong). Alternatively, readers may prefer to side with the criminal mind and indulge in the Moriarty (Black Chai with Star Anise, Pepper, Cinnamon, and Fennel) (Peacocks). The Moat Bar and Café, in Melbourne, situated in the basement of the State Library of Victoria, caters “to the whimsy and fantasy of the fiction housed above” and even runs a book exchange program (The Moat). For those readers who are unable, or unwilling, to travel the globe in search of such savoury and sweet treats there is a wide variety of locally-based literary lunches and other meals, that bring together popular authors and wonderful food, routinely organised by book sellers, literature societies, and publishing houses. There are also many cookbooks now easily obtainable that make it possible to re-create fictional food at home. One of the many examples available is The Book Lover’s Cookbook (2003) by Shaunda Kennedy Wenger and Janet Kay Jensen, a work containing over three hundred pages of: Breakfasts; Main & Side Dishes; Soups; Salads; Appetizers, Breads & Other Finger Foods; Desserts; and Cookies & Other Sweets based on the pages of children’s books, literary classics, popular fiction, plays, poetry, and proverbs. If crime fiction is your preferred genre then you can turn to Jean Evans’s The Crime Lover’s Cookbook (2007), which features short stories in between the pages of recipes. There is also Estérelle Payany’s Recipe for Murder (2010) a beautifully illustrated volume that presents detailed instructions for Pigs in a Blanket based on the Big Bad Wolf’s appearance in The Three Little Pigs (44–7), and Roast Beef with Truffled Mashed Potatoes, which acknowledges Patrick Bateman’s fondness for fine dining in Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho (124–7). Conclusion Cookbooks and many popular fiction novels are reflections of each other in terms of creativity, function, and structure. In some instances the two forms are so closely entwined that a single volume will concurrently share a narrative while providing information about, and instruction, on cookery. Indeed, cooking in books is becoming so popular that the line that traditionally separated cookbooks from other types of books, such as romance or crime novels, is becoming increasingly distorted. The separation between food and fiction is further blurred by food tourism and how people strive to experience some of the foods found within fictional works at bars, cafés, and restaurants around the world or, create such experiences in their own homes using fiction-themed recipe books. Food has always been acknowledged as essential for life; books have long been acknowledged as food for thought and food for the soul. 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