Halal and kosher slaughter methods and meat quality: a review.

There are many slaughter procedures that religions and cultures use around the world. The two that are commercially relevant are the halal and kosher methods practiced by Muslims and Jews respectively. The global trade in red meat and poultry produced using these two methods is substantial, thus the importance of the quality of the meat produced using the methods. Halal and kosher slaughter per se should not affect meat quality more than their industrial equivalents, however, some of their associated pre- and post-slaughter processes do. For instance, the slow decline in blood pressure following a halal pre-slaughter head-only stun and neck cut causes blood splash (ecchymosis) in a range of muscles and organs of slaughtered livestock. Other quality concerns include bruising, hemorrhages, skin discoloration and broken bones particularly in poultry. In addition to these conventional quality issues, the "spiritual quality" of the meat can also be affected when the halal and kosher religious requirements are not fully met during the slaughter process. The nature, causes, importance and mitigations of these and other quality issues related to halal and kosher slaughtering and meat production using these methods are the subjects of this review.

Mycotoxins in poultry feed in Kuwait.

A survey was conducted at a poultry feed production unit in Kuwait for mycotoxin contamination in the samples of yellow maize, soybean meal, wheat bran used as raw material and the poultry feed prepared for broiler starter, broiler finisher, and layer mash. Individual aflatoxins were determined by high-pressure liquid chromatography after immunoaffinity column purification. Repeated analysis revealed average aflatoxin concentration in maize at 0.27 ppb (range 0 to 1.69 ppb), soybean meal at 0.20 ppb (range 0 to 1.27 ppb), wheat bran at 0.15 ppb (range 0 to 1.07 ppb), prepared poultry feed for broiler starter at 0.48 ppb (range 0 to 3.26 ppb), broiler finisher at 0.39 ppb (range 0 to 1.05 ppb), and layer mash at 0.21 ppb (range 0 to 1.30 ppb). Other mycotoxins (ochratoxin, fumonisin, deoxynivalenol (DON), and zearalenone), were detected by quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The average levels of ochratoxin A ranged from 4.6 to 9.6 ppb, fumonisin from 1.4 to 3.2 ppm, DON from 0.17 to 0.29 ppm, and zearalenone from 46.4 to 67.6 ppb in various commodities and prepared feed samples. The study revealed the coexistence of determined mycotoxins, although their concentrations in general were found to be lower than the permissible levels, wherever defined, for the poultry feed.

Reduction of the rate of fluorescence decay of FITC- and carboxyfluorescein-stained cells by anti-FITC antibodies.

Anti-fluorescein antibodies were found to prevent the fading of emitted fluorescence from fibroblasts stained with fluorescein-labelled fibronectin antibodies. The prevention of fading is the result of specific binding of the fluorochromes present on the stained cells by the anti-fluorescein antibodies. The sheep anti-FITC antibody used in this study was equally effective in preventing the fading of both FITC- and carboxyfluorescein-labelled fibronectin antibodies. The method is simple, effective, does not interfere with the primary immune reaction, and in addition to preventing the fading of fluorescence it reduced the background fluorescence of the specimens. The procedure is expected to make an important contribution to improving the quality of fluorescence immunohistochemical techniques used in diagnosis.

AMC-anti-FITC conjugates: novel reagents for amplified immunochemical techniques. Immunofluorescent staining of human fibroblasts.

Fluorescein antibodies were labelled with 7-aminocoumarin (AMC) derivatives, the 3-acetic acid and the 3-propionic acid N-hydroxysuccinimide esters. The labelled antibodies were used in conjunction with fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) and carboxyfluorescein-conjugated primary and secondary antibodies to develop novel immunofluorescent staining procedures. These methods combine the advantages of the fluorescence properties of AMC and the ready availability of FITC-labelled antisera to provide an amplified fluorescence signal as well as overcoming the photobleaching problems in FITC staining. The method is easy to perform and is expected to make an important contribution to the improvement of the quality of staining achieved with immunofluorescence. Details of the procedure used to stain human fibroblasts with antifibronectin antibodies are reported in order to illustrate the method.