Rafael Sanches Spurio1, Adriana Lourenço Soares1, Rafael H. Carvalho2, Vivaldo Silveira3, Moisés Grespan4, Alexandre Oba2, Massami Shimokomaki2,1,5
1Graduate Program in Food Science, Department of Food Science and Technology State University of Londrina PR Brazil
2Graduate Program in Animal Science Department of Veterinary Preventive Medicine State University of Londrina PR Brazil
3Faculty of Food Engineering State University of Campinas SP Brazil
4DVM, Cascavel PR Brazil
5Professional Master in Food Technology Program Paraná Federal Technological University, Campus Londrina Londrina PR Brazil
Tóm tắt
AbstractThroughout the chicken production chain, transport from farm to the commercial abattoir is one of the most critical sources of stress, particularly heat stress. The aim of this work was to describe the performance of a new prototype truck container designed to improve the microenvironment and reduce the incidence of pale, soft and exudative (PSE) meat and dead on arrival (DOA) occurrences. Experiments were carried out for four different conditions: regular and prototype truck, both with and without wetting loaded cages at the farm (for bird thermal stress relief) just before transporting. While there was no difference in the DOA index (P ≥ 0.05), the prototype truck caused a reduction (P < 0.05) in the occurrence of PSE meat by 66.3% and 49.6% with and without wetting, respectively. The results of this experiment clearly revealed a low‐cost solution for transporting chickens that yields better animal welfare conditions and improves meat quality.