Study on the different lambs slaughtering methods and the assessment of the degree of stress through the determination of serum cortisol

All animals reared for meat will experience a level of stress prior to slaughter, which will manifest itself in negative effects on meat quality. The purpose of this research is to find out the level of stress of the animals, at the moment of slaughter, by measuring the cortisol in the serum, as an indirect method of evaluating the quality of the meat. The study was carried out between March and October 2021, on three batches of sheep. Batch 1 was slaughtered conventionally (with stunning), batch 2 was slaughtered traditionally (without stunning) and batch 3 was slaughtered halal (without stunning). ). Blood samples were collected from the bleeding wound, and cortisol was dosed in a specialized laboratory by the immunoenzymatic method with chemiluminescence detection. Comparing the analyzed batches, it can be seen that higher average values of the cortisol level were recorded in the batch slaughtered in the halal system, followed by the batch slaughtered in the conventional system and then by the one slaughtered in the traditional system, which obtained the lowest values. The quality of the meat is directly influenced by the way the animals are slaughtered and by the stress during slaughtering.