Luigi Faucitano

Image Luigi Faucitano
Research scientist

I coordinate a research program on 1) Preslaughter management of pigs and its effects on animal welfare and meat quality and 2) Validation of indicators for the reliable assessment of stress response preslaughter and prediction of meat quality variation.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre, Sherbrooke, Québec

Current research and/or projects

  • Application of dietary and management strategies to manipulate preslaughter muscle glycogen level and improve meat quality in pigs. Funded by AAFC Science Technology Branch.

  • Development of an assessment tool to improve production practices (from birth to slaughter), animal welfare and meat quality under the Canadian commercial conditions. Funded by AAFC Science Technology Branch.

  • Optimisation de la qualité microbiologique et de l’innocuité des produits de porc frais et transformés. Funded by the Canadian Food Innovators Cluster Program.

  • Effects of improved design trailers on the welfare of pigs transported under Canadian conditions. Funded by AAFC-Agriscience

  • Effects of producing heavier market weight pigs on their easiness of handling and space requirements during transport to slaughter. Funded by  AAFC-Agriscience.

Research and/or project statements

Livestock handling and transport are major issues for all of the agricultural animal industries in Canada at this time. The interest of the Canadian pork industry is based on the need (1) to reduce profit losses due to mortality rate during transport to slaughter and carcass trim losses and restrictions on marketing, particularly for exporting poor quality pork, and (2) to market animal welfare and high quality certified pork. These objectives can be met by developing novel, reliable and easy to use under commercial conditions animal welfare monitoring tools. These issues are the objectives of Dr. Faucitano’s current research program and meet two objectives of the AAFC Science and Innovation Strategy Plan, in terms of increasing productivity and food quality attributes.

Professional activities / interests

1) Expert member of AAFC-CFIA Animal Welfare Advisory group and of the International Cooperation Committee of Animal Welfare (ICCAW, Beijing, China)

2)  Member of the scientific committee organizing the symposium “Meat Science and Muscle Biology” at the ASAS-CSAS Joint Annual Meeting and the 2020 International Congress of Meat Science and Technology (ICoMST)

3) Associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Animal Science

4) Supervision of 10 Master and 11 PhD students, and 7 post-doc fellows and participation in the evaluation of 16 thesis dissertations.

Education and awards

B.Sc. in Science for Animal Production, University of Bologna, Italy, 1990

PhD in Animal Science, University of Bologna, Italy, 1996

Recipient of the Canadian Society of Animal Science Award in Excellence in Nutrition and Meat Science., 2015.

Recipient of the Canadian Society of Animal Science Technical Innovation in Enhancing Production of Safe Affordable Food Award, 2018.

International experience and/or work

Participation in the following international projects:

1) Study of the impact of preslaughter handling on welfare and pork quality in pigs. Funded by Embrapa (Brazil)

2) Study of the efficiency of different slaughter systems, in terms of animal welfare and beef quality. Funded by UNESP (Brazil)

3) The role of cognitive bias in animal emotions, its effect on animal welfare and meat quality and the search for potential biomarkers of ante- and peri-slaughter stress factors. Funded by the Ministerio de Ciencia y Investigacion de España (Spain)

4) Analysis of insulin-like growth factor binding proteins in plasma from slaughter pigs after transport. Funded by the German Ministry for Science and Technology/Ligandis Biomarker Research (Germany) 

5) Effects of temperament of beef cattle kept in feedlot at different space allowances on growth performance, and carcass and meat quality traits. Funded by FAPESP (Brazil)

Provided more than 30 invited talks in USA, Europe, Central and South America, and Asia.

Key publications

  1. Mercier, J., Cinq-Mar, D., Berthiaume, R., Faucitano, L., Girard, C.L. (2015). Effects of dietary total non-structural carbohydrates and folic acid and vitamin B12supplement on growth and meat quality of yearling steers in a forage-based beef production system. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, [online] 95(2), 281-291. http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/CJAS-2014-123

    2015 - View publication details

  2. Li, H., Gariépy, C., Jin, Y., Font Furnols, M., Fortin, J., Rocha, L.M., Faucitano, L. (2015). Effects of ractopamine administration and castration method on muscle fiber characteristics and sensory quality of the longissimus muscle in two Piétrain pig genotypes. Meat Science, [online] 102 27-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.10.027

    2015 - View publication details

  3. Rocha, L.M., Dionne, A., Saucier, L., Nannoni, E., Faucitano, L. (2015). Hand-held lactate analyzer as a tool for the real-time measurement of physical fatigue before slaughter and pork quality prediction. Animal, [online] 24(4), http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1751731114002766

    2015 - View publication details

  4. Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., Saucier, L. (2015). Influence of preslaughter feed withdrawal time applied at the abattoir on carcass microbial quality. Meat Science, [online] 99 143. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.07.016

    2015 - View publication details

  5. Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., Guay, F., Saucier, L. (2015). Pre-slaughter strategies to improve pork carcass microbial quality. Meat Science, [online] 99 153. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.meatsci.2014.07.006

    2015 - View publication details

  6. Rocha, L.M., Velarde, A., Dalmau, A., Saucier, L., and Faucitano, L. (2014). "Effect of the farm system on the behavioral response preslaughter and on meat quality variation in pigs.", Journal of Animal Science, 92(Suppl.1), pp. 5. (Abstract)

    2014 - View publication details

  7. Weschenfelder, A.V., Maldague, X., Rocha, L.M., Schaefer, A.L., Saucier, L., and Faucitano, L. (2014). "Mesure de la température oculaire par thermographie infrarouge pour évaluer l’état physiologique des porcs avant l’abattage et prédire la variation de la qualité de la viande. Viandes et Produits Carnées, 30-2-5."

    2014 - View publication details

  8. Rocha, L.M., Velarde, A., Dalmau, A., Saucier, L., and Faucitano, L. (2014). "Does the monitoring of animal welfare parameters through the supply chain predict pork meat quality variation?", Canadian Journal of Animal Science, 94, pp. 179. (Abstract)

    2014 - View publication details

  9. Saucier, L., Faucitano, L., Devillers, N., Talbot, G., and Guay, F. (2014). Des stratégies pour l’amélioration de la qualité de la viande de porc. Final report submitted to MAPAQ, 16 p. (Report)

    2014 - View publication details

  10. Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., and Saucier, L. (2014). "Influence of preslaughter feed withdrawal applied either at the farm or at the abattoir on carcass microbial quality.", Canadian Meat Council's 94th Annual Conference, Toronto, ON, Canada, May 7-9, 2014.

    2014 - View publication details

  11. Weschenfelder, A.V., Maldague, X., Rocha, L.M., Schaefer, A.L., Saucier, L., and Faucitano, L. (2014). "The use of infrared thermography for pork quality prediction.", Meat Science, 96(1), pp. 120. doi : 10.1016/j.meatsci.2013.05.047 (Abstract)

    2014 - View publication details

  12. Martelli, G., Faucitano, L., Grandi, M., Nannoni, E., and Zaghini, G. (2014). Gli animali nel sentire commune dei cittadini. Report submitted to the Commission on Ethics and Deontology in Animal Science of the Italian Association for Animal Production (ASPA), p. 21. (Report)

    2014 - View publication details

  13. Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., Guay, F., Gosselin, A., Desjardins, Y., and Saucier, L. (2014). "Pre-slaughter strategies to improve the microbial quality of pork carcasses.", International Union of Microbiological Societies Congress (IUMS 2014), Montréal, QC, Canada, July 27-August 1, 2014.

    2014 - View publication details

  14. Rocha, L.M., Velarde, A., Dalmau, A., Saucier, L., and Faucitano, L. (2014). "Can animal welfare assessment at the farm be a good tool to control pork quality variation?", Journal of Animal Science, 92(Suppl.1), pp. 24. (Abstract)

    2014 - View publication details

  15. Fox, J., Widowski, T., Torrey, S., Nannoni, E., Bergeron, R., Gonyou, H.W., Brown, J.A., Crowe, T., Mainau, E., Faucitano, L. (2014). Water sprinkling market pigs in a stationary trailer. 1. Effects on pig behaviour, gastrointestinal tract temperature and trailer micro-climate. Livestock Science, [online] 160(1), 113-123. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2013.12.019

    2014 - View publication details

  16. Nannoni, E., Widowski, T., Torrey, S., Fox, J., Rocha, L.M., Gonyou, H., Weschenfelder, A.V., Crowe, T., Martelli, G., Faucitano, L. (2014). Water sprinkling market pigs in a stationary trailer. 2. Effects on selected exsanguination blood parameters and carcass and meat quality variation. Livestock Science, [online] 160(1), 124-131. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2013.11.022

    2014 - View publication details

  17. Scheeren, M.B., Gonyou, H.W., Brown, J., Weschenfelder, A.V., Faucitano, L. (2014). Effects of transport time and location within truck on skin bruises and meat quality of market weight pigs in two seasons. Canadian Journal of Animal Science, [online] 94(1), 71-78. http://dx.doi.org/10.4141/CJAS2013-136

    2014 - View publication details

  18. Correa, J.A., Gonyou, H., Torrey, S., Widowski, T., Bergeron, R., Crowe, T., Laforest, J.P., Faucitano, L. (2014). Welfare of pigs being transported over long distances using a pot-belly trailer during winter and summer. Animals, [online] 4(2), 200-213. http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani4020200

    2014 - View publication details

  19. Gil, M., Faucitano, L., Talbot, G., Devillers, N., and Saucier, L. (2013). "Stratégies pré-abattage pour améliorer la qualité microbiologique des carcasses de porc.", Congrès de bactériologie intégrative: symbiose & pathogenèse (BiSP), Québec, QC, Canada, novembre 28-29, 2013.

    2013 - View publication details

  20. Faucitano, L. (2013 in press). "Transport à l’abattoir : à 20°C ou plus, une douche est bénéfique.", Porc Québec.

    2013 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre
2000 College Street
Sherbrooke, QC J1M 0C8
Canada

Expertise

Animals›Production
Food›Agriculture
Sciences›Scientific research

Affiliations

  • Associate professor, Université Laval, Département des sciences animales (Québec)

  • Associate professor, Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), Department of Animal Science, Brazil

  • Associate professor, University of Guelph, Departement of Animal Biosciences, Guelph, ON, Canada

Language

English
French

Other languages

Italian, Spanish, Portuguese