Performing Department
School of Natural Resources & Extension
Non Technical Summary
Alaska imports most of its food so it needs to increase regional and local food production to ease state-wide food security concerns, promote economic development in isolated and disadvantaged villages and to replace dwindling subsistence food resources due to climate change and resource depletion. Alaska has the range and forage resources to produce substantial quantities of red meat through the production of reindeer, a livestock commodity in great demand and commanding a high price. The State of Alaska allows in-state sale of field-slaughtered, noninspected reindeer meat under regulations that reindeer owners are having difficulty to comply because of changing environmental conditions. Also, these same regulations were developed without regard to meat quality, but instead focused on food safety. Reindeer meat produced under these regulations is often of lower quality and, in turn market value. Lower market value compromises the effort of entrepreneurs to build a successful business particularly in rural Alaska. In this project we will develop field processing techniques and a corresponding quality and food safety monitoring program that will ensure production and marketability of a high quality and safe food product in rural Alaska.
Animal Health Component
75%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
0%
Applied
75%
Developmental
25%
Goals / Objectives
Alaska imports most of its food so it needs to increase regional and local food production to ease state-wide food security concerns, promote economic development in isolated and disadvantaged villages and to replace dwindling subsistence food resources due to climate change and resource depletion. Alaska has the range and forage resources to produce substantial quantities of red meat through the production of reindeer, (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) a livestock commodity in great demand and commanding a high price. Alaska has over 16 million acres of public and private rangeland in Northwestern Alaska and Bering Sea Islands designated for the production of domestic reindeer. Although the number of reindeer being raised for meat production has decreased since the 1990's there are still herds numbering 600 to 4000 animals in remote locations in Western Alaska. If sustainable herd management is practiced up to % 25 of the herd can be slaughtered which represents tens of thousands of pounds of potential meat production. Due to the remote locations, lack of utilities and high cost of transportation, construction of abattoirs capable of a USDA inspected slaughter is not currently feasible. However, if this meat production could be channeled into retail markets through an alternative to inspected slaughter then the food and economic potential of remote reindeer production in Alaska could be realized.The State of Alaska allows in-state sale of field slaughtered, non-inspected reindeer meat if animals are slaughtered on snow, ambient air temperature is below freezing, the carcass is frozen immediately, remains frozen until sold, and must be labeled as an uninspected product and cooked to an internal temperature of 1650F. One limitation of marketing and consumer acceptance of field slaughtered reindeer meat and the reason it is sold at a lower price has been meat toughness. If a carcass is immediately chilled to less than 10 °C as the present state regulations require a phenomenon known as cold shortening occurs and meat becomes very tough. Although other factors contribute to the marketability and price of field vs. inspected slaughtered reindeer meat, toughness could be lessened by altering the current field slaughter methods. The onset and rate of rigor mortis and its indirect effects on meat quality is driven by ambient temperature. The most effective means to producing tenderer meat is to regulate carcass temperature during the rigor process (16-24 hrs.). Carcass temperature could be regulated in the field by conserving heat by placing carcasses in sleds adjacent to each other, wrapped in food grade plastic, tarps and hides to reduce heat loss. However this method conflicts with the presumption of ensuring meat hygiene and the state regulation of immediately freezing field slaughtered reindeer meat.Developing a reindeer field slaughter protocol producing a high quality and hygenic end product that is acceptable to state food regulators could dramatically increase local food production and economic development in rural Alaska communities. A viable reindeer meat industry will increase Alaska's food production capacity. It could produce some of the most prestigious sources of animal proteins in the country, which could be sold to high-value markets throughout the state. It could also provide for sustainable local food production and support local economies. Three Rural Alaska communities with productive reindeer herds have expressed a desire to produce and sell field slaughtered reindeer meat; St Paul and St Lawrence Islands and Stebbins/St Michael AK. However, it is essential for reindeer meat producers in these communities to have uniform slaughtering and processing protocols to ensure quality and food safety and be able to control the variables that influence quality and marketability.The goal of this project is to generate the data to develop an operational commercial field slaughter of reindeer in remote locations delivering a safe, hygienic, high quality product compatible with local environmental conditions that will be accepted by the State of Alaska Department of Environmental and the Food Safety and Inspection Service. To accomplish this goal we will:Test the feasibility and acceptance by reindeer producers of a hygienically controlled field slaughter protocol.Compare the microbial count of a field slaughtered and chilled carcass to a plant slaughtered and chilled carcass.Compare tenderness between directly frozen vs. chilled reindeer meat.Survey the reindeer populations on St. Paul, St Lawrence Islands and at Stebbins, AK. for brucellosis, and tuberculosis, zoonotic diseases transferred through meat and organsof food animals.Initiate a health survellience program of food animals in rural Alaska.
Project Methods
Testing of hygienically controlled field slaughter techniques (See Appendix 1 in proposal)Four to six reindeer will be shot in-field during a slaughtering event in consecutive years on St Paul and St. Lawrence Island and Stebbins as a pilot study to field test the proposed slaughtering protocol (Appendix 1) during a late fall (Oct-Nov.2017) or early spring (March, Apr., 2018) when snow cover is patchy or nonexistent. Steers (castrated males) or females will be slaughtered in the fall and adult males (bulls) will be slaughtered in late spring. Immediately after bleeding the unskinned carcass will be placed on a cradle where it will be skinned to the backbone and gutted. Blood will be collected during exsanguination for TB and brucellosis testing. The carcass will be hoisted off the cradle using a gambrel and pulley system where gutting and skinning will be completed. Carcass temperature will be measured in the striploin (M. longissimus dorsi (LD (at the last rib)) after the carcass is wrapped in cheesecloth and loaded on a covered sled or wagon. Temperature will be measured with a digital thermometer (Conmark, DT 300, Beaverton, OR, USA). Each reindeer carcass will be labelled in the order in which they were slaughtered (ID 1-4). Carcasses will then be transported by covered sled, wagon, or truck to a processing facility in St. Paul or Savoonga, placed in a chiller at ~2°C, cheesecloth removed and temperature and pH collected every 2-4 hours in the M. longissimus dorsi until ultimate pH is reached (rigor complete usually 12-16 hrs.). An Orion, pH meter (model 290 A, Boston, MA, USA) with attached Orion Kniphe® electrode (Beverly, MA, USA) will be used to measure pH. The pH meter will be adjusted for muscle temperature at each measurement. After the carcass reaches ultimate pH it will be allowed to immediately freeze.24 hours post-dispatch, the carcasses will be swabbed for aerobic bacteria. Basic sampling techniques will follow USMARC Carcass Sampling Protocol. All samples will be collected using Speci-Sponges (Nasco, Fort Atkinson, WI) moistened with 10ml of buffered peptone water (BPW, Difco, Laboratories). It has been shown that the most contaminated parts of the reindeer carcass are the brisket and abdomen (Vaarala and Korkeala, 1994) so each carcass will be swabbed inside and outside of the breast plate (brisket) using the enclosed template to standardize the surface area sampled to 100 cm2. The samples will be placed in a small cooler and remained refrigerated until shipped to the State of Alaska, Environmental Health Laboratory for analysis (Aerobic Plate Counts). The shipment of samples to the lab from remote locations may take up to four days so there is a question whether the swab neutralizing buffer is able to preserve the viability of any sampled bacteria or the extended transit time will promote over growth. The Environmental Health Laboratory will take replicate swabs of a known bacterial source and incubate 24 and 96 hrs. after swabbing to evaluate the effect of transit time on bacteria populations in swabs. Swabs for microbial counts will also be taken from reindeer slaughtered in plant under USDA inspection as a comparison to field slaughtered bacterial counts (see methods: Post slaughter temperature effect on meat quality attributes)TB and brucellosis surveillanceReindeer on St Lawrence Island and Stebbins are herded into a corral biannually for censusing,velvet antler harvesting, castration, and veterinary care. Usually groups of reindeer 500-1200 are placed in the corral at one time. All animals will receive eartags with unique identification numbers. Reindeer are manually restrained using a wooden chute, animal crush, or on theground.Blood will be taken from 80-100 randomly selected adult female reindeer from the jugular vein with 20 cc syringes with /18 g., 1 inch needles. Between 10 and 20 cc's of blood will be collected and allocated into two standard, untreated red top serum separator tubes (Vacutainer, BD, Franklin Lakes, NJ 07417). The Reindeer Research Program will work with the Alaska State Veterinarian to develop a training program and protocol for RRP staff in the proper sampling, processing and documentation of disease surveillance in reindeer populations. The red top vacutainers will be placed in a cooler and transported to the University of Alaska Fairbanks Northwest Campus Biological Sciences Laboratory in Nome or the University of Alaska Fairbanks Reindeer Research Program Laboratory in Fairbanks spun down with a standard centrifuge at 10,000 rpm for 10 minutes. Serum will be decanted off, frozen. One replicate sample will be sent to the State of Alaska Environmental Health Laboratory in Anchorage AK. for brucellosis analysis and the other sample sent to the National Veterinary Services Laboratories (NVSL) for bovine tuberculosis analysis (DPP). The Chembio DPP® VetTB Assay for Cervids is a single-use immuno-chromatographic, rapid test for the detection of antibodies to Mycobacterium bovis in serum of cervids including reindeer.Post slaughter temperature effect on meat quality attributesTwenty eight month old reindeer steers (castrated males) from the University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF)Reindeer Research Program (RRP) facility will be transported to a facility, Delata Meat and Sausage Co., Delta Junction, Alaska for U.S.D.A. inspected slaughter. Animals will be slaughtered according to USDA protocols and placed in a chiller at 1.7O C. The M. Longissimus dorsi (LD) along with the backbone will be removed from both halves of the carcass between the 7th and 8th rib and the ischial process within an hour of being placed in the chiller. Each LD and backbone will be cut into two sections and randomly allocated to 3 groups; The control group which will undergo normal USDA post slaughter cooling and storage (aging) of loins for 7 days before being frozen. Treatment 1 group will be immediately placed in a freezer (-22°C) and allowed to freeze. Treatment 2 group will be kept in the chiller until ultimate pH is reached (rigor complete) then placed in the freezer and frozen. Temperature and pH of all samples will collected hourly with a Hanna pH meter model HI99163 using the amplified pH electrode model FC232D with removable stainless steel blade model FC099. After freezing all samples will be wrapped in plastic and packed and vacuum sealed in 4mm bags. Samples will be sent to University of Illinois Meat Science Lab for analysis of moisture and lipid content, cooking loss, shear force, TBARS (rancidity) and sensory attributes (tenderness, juiciness and off flavor). Twenty four hours after slaughter each carcass will be swabbed inside and outside of the breast plate (brisket) according to the USMARC Carcass Sampling Protocol with the enclosed template to standardize the surface area sampled at 100 cm2. The samples will be placed in a small cooler and remained refrigerated shipped to the State of Alaska, Environmental Health Laboratory for analysis (Aerobic Plate Counts).Project TimelineOct.-Dec.2017 Participate in opportunistic field slaughters at St Paul, St Lawrence Islands or Stebbins.Feb.-April 2018 Participate in opportunistic field slaughters at St Paul, St Lawrence Islands or Stebbins.June, July 2018 Participate in opportunistic reindeer handlings St Lawrence Island and Stebbins andsubmit sample for analysisOct.-Dec. 2018 Conduct post slaughter temperature effect on meat quality experiment, Delta Meats andSausageOct.-Dec. 2018 Results from to University of Illinois Meat Science LabOct.-Dec.2018 Participate in opportunistic field slaughters at St Paul, St Lawrence Islands or Stebbins.Feb.-April 2019 Participate in opportunistic field slaughters at St Paul, St Lawrence Islands or Stebbins.June, July 2019 Participate in opportunistic reindeer handlings St Lawrence Island and Stebbins andsubmit sample for analysisJuly-Sept. 2019 Analyze data and publish project results