LAUSR

Abstract Animal transportation and pre-slaughter procedures are major components of the beef production system, but cattle are especially susceptible to stress during those events. In addition to stress-induced meat quality problems that might occur, such as higher pH and DFD meat, stressed animals are more prone to carcass bruising, which represents negative impact for the beef industry, from producers to meat packing plants. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify and quantify some risk factors for severe bruising in cattle carcasses. A total of 154,100 carcasses from 5028 loads of cattle purchased by a commercial slaughterhouse were assessed, and the following antemortem bruise-related variables were analyzed: sex, cattle handling procedures, loading facilities on the farm, type of vehicle used for transportation, distance traveled from the farm to the slaughterhouse, journey duration, truck load density, and season of the year at slaughter. Data were analyzed using the binary logistic regression model and Poisson regression model, assuming the presence or absence of severe bruises and total number of severe bruises per load as response variables, respectively. All analyzed variables showed to be potential factors for severe carcass bruising. Cattle sex was the most influential variable, and the likelihood of severe carcass bruising was greater for females (P