Cracking Condemns: Five keys to understanding condemnation reports

Throughout the poultry production cycle, producers spend a lot of time and hard work focusing on areas such as modifying brooding practices, maximizing flock performance, and reducing disease pressures. However, we often overlook the importance of analyzing one final piece of information – the condemnation report. Reviewing these reports is essential for optimizing production and profit, maintaining high welfare standards, and, most importantly, identifying areas for improvement. That said, here are five keys to understanding these documents.

1. The condemn report is a supplement tool for disease surveillance: I encourage all poultry producers to monitor trends and pay close attention to each condemnation report. The report provides detailed information about the birds that were rejected, whether due to diseases or infections. It helps guide us in modifying management practices or disease management plans, such as vaccine programs or feed formulation. 
2. It’s not just about health monitoring: In addition to being a tool for disease detection, the report also serves as an important welfare indicator. It allows us to identify corrective actions on welfare issues such as poor housing conditions or management practices that cause injuries or stress in birds. The processing plant’s operation is a crucial component in all well-recognized welfare programs and auditing tools. Refer to the first reference in the sidebar for essential guidelines and a handy auditing checklist.
3. The top four causes of broiler condemnations: Subcutaneous conditions (cellulitis), liver conditions, abdominal edema (ascites), and respiratory conditions are the leading causes of broiler condemnations across Canada. Each of these issues has its own set of risk factors and control strategies, some of which are interconnected. This list may differ slightly across provinces, companies, or farms based on individual challenges.
   The CFIA Poultry Condemnation Report by Species for Federally Inspected Plants, see the second reference in the sidebar, is a great starting point for exploring national or provincial trends. It helps producers forecast and prepare for seasonal or regional challenges. For more specific regional or corporate processing data, I encourage producers to discuss with their processors, veterinarians, marketing boards, and fellow producers. 
4. Accurate diagnoses help pinpoint the problem and find solutions: “Liver condition” is a general term that describes abnormalities found in the liver. It isn’t always caused by an infectious process, although bacterial hepatitis is very common. Chronic passive congestion, another frequent cause of liver rejection, can be attributed to factors such as exposure to cold temperatures, poor ventilation, high sodium intake, and lung or heart diseases. When in doubt, communicate with the quality assurance manager, collect samples, and work with your veterinarians to obtain an accurate diagnosis.
5. Collecting samples go a long way: It doesn’t always have to follow a poor condemn result. Obtaining processing samples such as condemned whole birds, tissues, or more commonly blood samples, can provide insights into the flock’s disease status. In particularly, blood samples can help screen for common infectious diseases, including infectious bursal disease and infectious bronchitis disease, which may go unnoticed on the farm. 

List of useful references

• National Chicken Council Broiler Welfare Guidelines and Audit Checklists.
  source: nationalchickencouncil.org 
• CFIA Poultry Condemnation Report by Species for Federally Inspected Plants: This report displays poultry condemnations by province for a selected month or year.
  source: agriculture.canada.ca 
• Litter Quality and Broiler Performance: This article out of the University of Georgia addresses how litter quality impacts performance and welfare issues, which can lead to increased condemnations.
  source: extension.uga.edu 

Dr. Gigi Lin is a board-certified poultry veterinarian. She provides diagnostic, research, consultation, continuing education, and field services to all levels of the poultry industry in Western Canada. In this new column, she will help producers understand and prevent condemnations.