Effect of commercial transport in Spain on cattle welfare and meat quality.

The purpose of this work was to determine the effect of transport of cattle from the farm to the abattoir on the animal's welfare and post mortem meat quality (instrumental and sensorial). Thirty-nine commercial journeys were followed in Spain from July 2000 to July 2001 at varying distances from a local abattoir in the city of Zaragoza. Blood samples were taken at the farm and at sticking and meat pH24 was measured at 24 hours post-mortem. Samples from the M. longissimus dorsi thoracis were taken from 48 slaughter bulls and analysed in terms of instrumental and sensorial qualities. Cortisol, glucose, CPK, lactate and N:L ratio increased during transport compared to control values. Cortisol was higher after 1-2 h transport compared to journeys that were less than 1 h or more than 2 h long. In general the parameters indicated slightly more stressful conditions under winter conditions than in the summer. Meat tenderness measured by a Warner-Bratzler device demonstrated that there was no significant effect of either transport time or season. There was no significant change in pH24 or meat colour at 24 h with transport time. Transport time had a significant effect (p < 0.05) on overall liking and animals transported in summer had slightly more tender meat and higher overall liking.