Influence of different treatment procedures on morphological structure of beef intestines

After manual and machine cleaning of beef intestines, the structure of the intestinal layer was examined. Examination was performed using a histological technique and included 60 intestinal sets of fattened beef (Simmental breed), 10 months of age and with an average slaughter weight of 248.05 kg. Intestines are considered to be edible by-products and therefore are used as natural casings for high quality sausages. The aim of this study was to determine differences between duodenum and colon layers that remain after manual and machine cleaning. Our results showed that machine cleaning is a better method of intestinal treatment than manual cleaning. Machine cleaning yields better results in uniformity of cleaned intestines and in an absence of lesions in the muscular layer. These criteria of technological treatment were absent when cleaning was conducted manually.