Unlocking the physicochemical and microbiological quality of animal products in Brazil: a critical analysis of the National Compliance Program.

The Program for Evaluation of Physicochemical and Microbiological Compliance in Products of Animal Origin (PACPOA) is a risk assessment tool adopted by the Federal Inspection Service (SIF) of Brazil. A description of the compliance of the PACPOA analyses from 2014 to 2022 was carried out using Microsoft Excel and SAS software. Odds Ratios and 95 % confidence intervals were calculated for the significant variables. In general, there was a high level of compliance in laboratory analyses (94.85 % overall compliance, 94.14 % physicochemical and 95.74 % microbiological). However, some industries (slaughterhouses, dairies, bee product processing plants, poultry farms and fish processing plants), products (poultry carcasses/cuts, pork offal and mechanically separated meat; ricotta, dulce de leche and butter; propolis extract and honey; pasteurized whole egg and liquid egg; lobster and shrimp) were less compliant. The physicochemical analyses with the lowest compliance were dripping and Protein Moisture Ratio in meat; sorbic acid/sorbates and cryoscopic index in dairy products; alcohol content and total dry extract in honey; fixed mineral residue (ash) in eggs; deglazing and anhydrous sulphur dioxide/sulphites in fish, suggesting possible economic fraud. Lower compliance was also identified for the pathogens Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in meat; Staphylococcus aureus in dairy products; and L. monocytogenes in fish. Thus, these results highlight the importance of official monitoring of animal products and their manufacturing processes by industries/slaughterhouses, indicating where improvements are needed to protect public health.