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Sarcocyst Quantification and Viability: Freezing Treatment as an Alternative to Carcass Condemnation

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Abstract

Purpose

The inspection of animal products is important for controlling parasitic zoonoses. Some processes that guarantee food safety to consumers such as carcass condemnation cause economic losses. This study aimed to detect Sarcocystis cysts in cattle hearts obtained from slaughterhouses and to evaluate sarcocyst viability after freezing treatment.

Methods

When myocardial tissues were minced and subjected to fresh examination, sarcocysts were observed in all analyzed tissues resulting in 21.73 cysts/g of tissue. Sarcocyst viability was verified after tissue freezing at 35 ± 2 °C and – 20 ± 2 °C for 0–12 h. After freezing, the tissues were minced, and sarcocysts were collected and stained with Tripan Blue. In addition, cysts were mechanically disrupted to check bradyzoite viability.

Results

Cysts and bradyzoites were unviable at – 35 °C for ≥ 3 h and − 20 °C for ≥ 8 h.

Conclusion

These results suggest freezing treatment as an alternative to condemnation of cattle carcasses contaminated with Sarcocystis spp. Similar studies using freezing treatment with other animals infected by Sarcocystis must be conducted.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the laboratories of parasitic diseases of the Federal University of Santa Maria and Federal University of Pelotas.

Funding

No funding was received for conducting this study. Bibiana R. Freitas, Isac J. Roman, Rodrigo C. Cunha, Fernanda S. F. Vogel hold fellowships from the by "Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico" (CNPq). This research was partially funded by the "Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—Brasil" (CAPES)—Financial Code 001.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Federal de Pelotas - UFPEL, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Bibiana Rodrigues de Freitas & Rodrigo Casquero Cunha

  2. Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Faculdade de Veterinária, Universidade Estadual de Londrina - UEL, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

    Fernando de Souza Rodrigues

  3. Laboratório de Bacteriologia (LABAC), Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Av. Roraima, 1000, Prédio 63C, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, 97105-900, Brazil

    Juliana Felipetto Cargnelutti

  4. Laboratório de Doenças Parasitárias (LADOPAR), Departamento de Medicina Veterinária Preventiva, Universidade Federal de Santa Maria, Av. Roraima, 1000, Prédio 63C, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, 97105-900, Brazil

    Isac Junior Roman, Bibiana Rossi Reis, Patrícia Braünig & Fernanda Silveira Flôres Vogel

Authors
  1. Bibiana Rodrigues de Freitas
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  2. Isac Junior Roman
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  3. Bibiana Rossi Reis
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  4. Fernando de Souza Rodrigues
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  7. Rodrigo Casquero Cunha
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  8. Fernanda Silveira Flôres Vogel
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Contributions

CRediT taxonomy: Conceptualization: BRF, IJR, JFC, FSFV; Data curation: BRF, BRR, IFR, FSFV; Formal analysis and investigation: BRF, IJR, FSFV, JFC, FSR; Methodology: IJR, FSFV; Writing—original draft preparation: BRF, FSFV; Writing—review and editing: BRF, IJR, FSFV, PB, RCC; Resources: RCC, FSFV; Supervision: FSFV.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Fernanda Silveira Flôres Vogel.

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The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.

Ethical Approval

No approval of research ethics committees was required to accomplish the goals of this study because experimental work was conducted with samples received for slaughterhouses.

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Rodrigues de Freitas, B., Roman, I.J., Reis, B.R. et al. Sarcocyst Quantification and Viability: Freezing Treatment as an Alternative to Carcass Condemnation. Acta Parasit. 68, 277–281 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11686-022-00656-9

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