Carcass splitting

In abattoirs arormd the world, beef carcasses are normally split laterally down the center of the vertebral column, usually by use of a circular band saw, to separate them into "sides." Carcass splitting disrupts, severs, and spreads the spinal cord tissue along the vertebral column of a carcass. Additionally, carcass splitting saws accumulate spinal cord tissue inside the saw housings during the splitting process and spread that CNS tissue to the split surfaces of subsequent carcasses. 

Bowling, M.B., Yemm, R.S., Belk, K.E., Scanga, J.A., Sofos, J.N., and Smith, G.C. 2006. An evaluation of central nervous system cross-contamination due to carcass splitting in commercial beef packing plants. Unpublished data. Center for Red Meat Safety, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO. 

Prendergast, D M., Sheridan, J.J., Daly, D.J., McDowell, D.A., and Blair, I.S. 2003. Dissemination of central nervous system tissue from the brain and spinal cord of cattle after captive bolt stunning and carcass splitting. Meat Sci. 65,1201-1209. 

Helps et al. (2004) slaughtered two female cattle, followed by one male, and then four female cattle and collected swab samples from the split vertebral-column surfaces. Real-time polymerase chain reaction protocols were followed to determine the extent to which tissue from the male carcass accumulated in the splitting saw and was disseminated to subsequent female carcasses. Under simulated abattoir conditions (i.e., washing the saw for 5 s between carcasses and washing the carcasses before collecting samples), these researchers reported that 0.01% of the tissue recovered from the split vertebral-column surface of the final female carcass in the sequence was from the male carcass and that 10% of the tissue remaining in the housing of the saw was from the male carcass. It was concluded from that study that "should a BSE-positive carcass be... 

Helps, C.R., Fisher, A.V., Harbour, D.A., O Neill, D.H., and Knight, A.C. 2004. Transfer of spinal cord material to subsequent bovine carcasses at splitting, f. Food Prot. 67, 1921-1926. 

Splitter industry. The splitter industry utilizes scrap tires that are rejected by retreaders. The splitter process consists of debeading the scrap tire and peeling off most of what remains of the tread. The remaining carcass is usually split into a tread section and two sidewall sections. These sections are then cut or punched in dies to form useful articles such as gaskets, shims, or ribbons from which door mats or dock bumpers are fabricated [3]. 

Lard Rendered pork fat Tallow Heat-treated fat trimmings from ruminants obtained before the carcass is split. Poultry fat... 

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