Meat quality and meat safety of goats infected with caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) disease: Is this fundamental knowledge established?

Background: Corynebacterium pseudotuberculosis is the causative agent of small ruminants' caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) disease. Little is known about the meat quality and safety of goats infected with Caseous Lymphadenitis (CLA) disease at different chronicity. Caseous lymphadenitis (CLA) is currently considered an untreatable disease because of the nature of its encapsulated lesions. Caseous lymphadenitis has insidious effects on the productivity of an animal. Still, there is little known effect of Caseous Lymphadenitis (CLA) disease in goats with different chronicities in terms of meat quality and meat safety. There is a knowledge gap in CLA research; some countries still consume meat from CLA-infected animals, and only visceral organs are removed. The meat from CLA-infected animals is still on the market and consumed by the public. This fundamental information and knowledge are helpful in determining the association of CLA disease with meat quality and safety. Therefore, there is a need to establish fundamental understanding of the effect of Caseous Lymphadenitis (CLA) disease in goats at different chronicity on the meat quality and meat safety to obtain the scientific information to disseminate to the public and owners of the farm and the most important to close the gap of CLA research in small ruminants.