Processing Technology and Utilization Methods for the Black Guinea Pig

  Section 1  Hygiene Requirements for Guinea Pig Meat
  1. Differences Between Healthy and Diseased Guinea Pigs
  Black guinea pigs raised by oneself or purchased for slaughter and processing must be healthy and disease-free. According to the needs of the processed product type, black guinea pigs of various ages, body weights, sexes and degrees of fatness are selected.
Healthy black guinea pigs have glossy black fur, bright and spirited eyes, are active, full of energy, have loud calls, and soft, elastic skin; diseased guinea pigs are mostly listless, reluctant to move, lie prone with eyes closed and dull, respond slowly, have rough and unkempt fur, nasal mucus discharge, localized hair loss, and loose skin.
  2. Quality Inspection of Dressed Guinea Pigs
  After slaughtering, dehairing or evisceration, some dressed guinea pigs are sold fresh or refrigerated, while others are processed into various black guinea pig meat products for sale. Before going to market, a hygiene and quality inspection of the dressed guinea pigs must be carried out. After dehairing, check whether the body surface color is normal, and whether there are bleeding spots, wounds, skin diseases, etc. In addition, check whether the guinea pig meat is fresh and whether there are signs of spoilage. To ensure consumers' health, spoiled guinea pig meat must not be marketed or eaten. Spoiled black guinea pigs have deeply sunken eyeballs, cloudy and moist corneas with mucus, and a putrid odor. At present, there is no unified quality standard for black guinea pig meat, so the national hygiene standard for pork can be used as a reference.

  Section 2  General Slaughtering and Processing of Black Guinea Pigs
  1. Preparation Before Slaughter
  Black guinea pigs undergo a waiting period before slaughter. Black guinea pigs to be slaughtered should generally stop being fed 8-12 hours before slaughter and stop drinking water 3 hours before slaughter; this can improve the quality of the slaughtered black guinea pig.
  Before being sent to slaughter, quarantine inspection should also be carried out to remove diseased guinea pigs. Diseased guinea pigs should be slaughtered separately and subjected to harmless treatment before being selectively processed and used. ⟦13   2. Slaughtering and Bleeding
  2. Slaughtering and bleeding
  During slaughter, the cutting site must be accurate and the bleeding must be thorough; the cut should be neat to ensure a complete appearance.
  3. Scalding and Dehairing
  When scalding, the water temperature and scalding time must be strictly controlled. The water temperature should be around 90°C. During scalding, the guinea pig body must be constantly turned. The scalding time is generally 18-30 seconds, just enough for the hair to be removed smoothly. The water temperature and scalding time should be flexibly adjusted according to the breed, age and slaughter season of the black guinea pig. For black guinea pigs that are not completely bled during slaughter or that have not completely stopped breathing after slaughter, do not rush to scald and dehair them.
  Black guinea pigs that have been properly scalded should be dehaired promptly. Machine dehairing or manual dehairing may be used.
  4. Evisceration
  According to the different needs for processing black guinea pigs into different products, evisceration can be divided into two different methods: full evisceration and semi-evisceration.
  (1) Full Evisceration
  Cut open the abdominal wall from the sternum to the anus of the slaughtered black guinea pig, and remove all the internal organs from the body cavity. When removing the internal organs, care should be taken not to tear the organs; try to keep all organs intact.
  (2) Semi-Evisceration
  Remove all internal organs only through an incision below the anus of the slaughtered black guinea pig.
  5. Fresh-Keeping of Guinea Pig Meat
  Fresh dressed guinea pigs can be marketed directly. They can be marketed whole or cut into pieces. However, during transportation and sales, hygiene must be maintained, proper storage must be ensured, spoilage must be prevented, and the quality of the guinea pig meat must be guaranteed.
  To ensure that guinea pig meat can be kept fresh without spoiling in a short time, the following points should generally be observed:
  First, slaughter and dehair cleanly, and absolutely prevent contamination by feces and the like.
  Second, consistently carry out cleaning, rinsing and disinfection systems in all stages such as processing, transportation, storage and sales, and eliminate opportunities for microbial growth at every stage.
  Third, lower the storage temperature and use refrigerated trucks during transportation to extend the fresh-keeping time of guinea pig meat.

  Section 3   Processing Technology for Black Guinea Pig Products
  The black guinea pig is a new special breeding project. After the black guinea pig breeding industry develops, doing a good job in the comprehensive development, utilization and product processing of black guinea pigs, and relieving breeders' worries, is a very urgent practical issue. In order to enable black guinea pig breeders to obtain real economic benefits, some simple processing methods and processing technologies are introduced below for reference.
  1. Comprehensive Development and Utilization of Black Guinea Pig Skin, Meat, Blood and Hair
  (1) Processed Products
  1. Guinea pig skin   After chemical tanning, black guinea pig skin is glossy black and can be made into fur toys and children's fur garments; the soft upper leather tanned after dehairing can be made into various lady's handbags, gloves, children's leather shoes, etc. According to a report in the Market Information News, a new-concept fabric made by double-layer lamination of Italian rat skin and guinea pig skin — rat skin velvet, has been sold at the Jiangsu Oriental Silk Market.