A comparison between lesions found during meat inspection of finishing pigs raised under organic/free-range conditions and conventional, indoor conditions

Table 3 Prevalence of lesions recorded during meat inspection in organic/free-range finishing pigs (N = 201,160) compared with conventionally raised finishing pigs (N = 1,173,213), for one Danish slaughterhouse, covering 1 year from October 1, 2012, to September 26, 2013, sorted by Odds Ratio

Lesion type	Prevalence (%)		Odds Ratio	P-value for comparison
Lesion type	Organic/free-range	Conventional	Odds Ratio	P-value for comparison
HIGHER RISK*
Healed rib fracture	0.73	0.19	3.8	<0.0001
Eczema/insect bite	2.41	0.73	3.4	<0.0001
Tail lesion – local	2.37	0.76	3.2	<0.0001
Chronic infectious arthritis	0.87	0.27	3.2	<0.0001
Milk spotted liver	2.60	0.90	3.0	<0.0001
Old fracture	0.20	0.09	2.2	<0.0001
Osteomyelitis	0.34	0.16	2.1	<0.0001
Tail lesion/tail infection	0.18	0.09	2.0	<0.0001
Skin corrosion	0.10	0.06	1.8	<0.0001
Abscess in mid-part	0.47	0.30	1.6	<0.0001
Abscess in hind part	1.30	0.82	1.6	<0.0001
Chronic peritonitis	1.11	0.74	1.5	<0.0001
Chronic pericarditis	1.67	1.32	1.3	<0.0001
EQUAL RISK*
Chronic pneumonia	0.35	0.30	1.2	0.0006
Abscess in head and ear	1.81	1.90	0.9	0.0039
Fresh fracture	0.13	0.17	0.8	<0.0001
Chronic pleuritis	19.06	23.94	0.8	<0.0001
LOWER RISK*
Abscess in leg/toe	0.74	1.03	0.7	<0.0001
Hernia	0.93	1.36	0.7	<0.0001
Pyemia	0.01	0.02	0.5	0.0007
Scar/hock lesion	1.47	3.41	0.4	<0.0001

*Biological significance assessed at OR > 1.2 or OR < 0.8. Statistical significance only assessed at P < 0.001.

ISSN: 2055-5660