Veterinary, health and hygiene assessment of quail slaughter products when used in the diet of a plant feed additive

Relevance. A pressing challenge in modern poultry farming, along with improving the survival and productivity of poultry, is the production of safe meat products with high nutritional value. Quail farming is a relatively new and rapidly developing subsector of animal husbandry. To improve poultry productivity, feed additives of various origins are widely used to balance the diet for deficient nutrients. Herbal preparations are the most promising.
Methods. Three groups of day-old Japanese quail were formed. Birds in the first and second experimental groups were fed Germivit at levels of 2.0% and 4.0% of the feed weight for 42 days. Control birds did not receive the additive. At the end of the rearing period, the experimental birds were slaughtered for veterinary and sanitary examination and hygienic assessment of the slaughter products.
Results. It was established that the inclusion of Germivit in the diet of Japanese quail contributed to the production of meat that was safe from veterinary and sanitary standpoints. Physicochemical parameters of the pectoral and femoral muscles after 24 hours and 5 days of storage did not differ from those of the control group quail and met the requirements for fresh, high-quality poultry meat. A hygienic assessment of the meat and internal organs revealed the absence of mercury and arsenic. Lead and cadmium levels in the muscles of quail from the control and experimental groups were at the level of 0.10–0.17 mg/kg and 0.019–0.029 mg/kg, respectively. In the internal organs (liver, heart, stomach), the lead content was 0.15–0.26 mg/kg, and cadmium was 0.10–0.19 mg/kg, which is significantly below the permissible levels. Salmonella and Listeria were not isolated from poultry slaughter products; the number of mesophilic aerobic and facultative anaerobic microorganisms in all samples complied with hygienic requirements.

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