THE EAAP STANDARD METHOD OF SHEEP CARCASS ASSESSMENT - CARCASS MEASUREMENTS AND DISSECTION PROCEDURES REPORT OF THE EAAP WORKING-GROUP-ON-CARCASS-EVALUATION, IN COOPERATION WITH THE CIHEAM INSTITUTO-AGRONOMICO-MEDITERRANEO OF ZARAGOZA AND THE CEC DIRECTORATE-GENERAL-FOR-AGRICULTURE IN BRUSSELS

The EAAP Working Group on Carcass Evaluation and CIHEAM have co-operated in establishing international reference procedures for sheep carcass description and for dissection procedures to determine carcass composition in terms of muscle, fat and bone. Many carcass experts from various countries co-operated in the preparation of a draft manual, which was checked and demonstrated in a joint final exercise. Agreed reference methods specify the carcass definition and presentation, measurements, definition of the standard side for dissection, jointing and tissue separation, and calculation of carcass composition. The defined procedures should allow broad comparability of carcass data, either through direct application or by relating other methods to the standard procedures. The agreed carcass measurements comprise a minimum set to describe the carcass material involved. The jointing procedure preceding tissue separation is optional: even so, a universal anatomical jointing method is defined, independent of commercial considerations, to express the results in biological terms. A common standard of tissue separation is the essential aspect of the reference procedure to express the composition of the whole carcass. The manual focuses on the exact definition of techniques, allowing implementation by research groups.