Thursday, 28th March 2024
To guardian.ng
Search

Our unsightly and unhealthy abattoirs!

By Eudora Kelley
21 October 2015   |   12:57 am
To say that abattoirs, legal and illegal operating across the length and breadth of our country are in a deplorable state is putting it mildly. An abattoir or slaughterhouse is a place where animals such as cows, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs are killed in a sanitary condition to ensure safe and wholesome meat for…

Kelley-Consumart-pix-CopyTo say that abattoirs, legal and illegal operating across the length and breadth of our country are in a deplorable state is putting it mildly. An abattoir or slaughterhouse is a place where animals such as cows, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs are killed in a sanitary condition to ensure safe and wholesome meat for human consumption. Only fit and healthy animals certified fit by a registered veterinarian should be slaughtered for food.

In a country like Nigeria, which prides herself as the Giant of Africa, the act regulating the killing of animals is never enforced, giving the impression that the laws are non-existent. Running of abattoir ought to be a major industry requiring close monitoring, inspections and training of personnel to ensure compliance with the strictest health and safety regulations.

Speaking at a forum, the former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development and current President of the African Development Bank (ADB), Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, described the state of abattoirs in the country as “unacceptable and distasteful.” He went further to state that the unhygienic environment, poor meat handling and substandard products found in most abattoirs are appalling. This was at the inauguration of the second Governing Council of the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science. The minister expressed concern on the quality of technical training and service provided in the livestock sub-sector, calling for a renewed regulatory framework to move animal production away from subsistence economy to a sustainable livestock business that would create jobs and generate wealth.

Stating further that Nigeria is yet to meet the minimum animal protein intake per person as recommended by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), he called for a paradigm shift to reverse the ugly trend. One would have wished that the minister would go beyond lamenting the poor state of affairs in the livestock sub-sector to putting in place a regulatory framework with all relevant stakeholders to sanitise there.

Nigeria is a meat loving society and most Nigerians would be appalled if they were aware of the conditions of the sorry slaughter slabs that serve as abattoirs for the killing of the animals prepared for their consumption.

The situation was highlighted by the President of the Nigerian Veterinary Association (NVA) Dr. Charles Ibe, as absence of laws regulating the operations of these abattoirs. He bemoaned the lack of a code of conduct guiding how meat and meat products are processed for consumption. He also decried the slaughter of pregnant animals. Estimating that 450 pregnancies are lost daily due to the slaughter of expectant animals in the country, a fact quite disturbing. He called on the National Assembly to, as a matter of urgency, promulgate laws to regulate abattoirs and processing of meat.

Let us consider it: This unhygienic and contaminated meat that is produced in our abattoirs unfortunately ends up in plates of all Nigerians all said and done. The resultant health implications, should be of concern to all Nigerians, including those in authority from the local, state to federal levels, whose responsibility it is to regulate the industry. The lawmakers in all tiers, especially at the state level should take the lead. They make the laws that govern and safeguard the public.

It is of concern that Nigeria has no functional mechanised abattoir. South Africa has a large number of mechanised abattoirs that produce high quality and safe meat exported around the world. Most countries have legislation that requires that animals are rendered unconscious (stunned) by a humane way before bleeding. The United States Act of 1958, requires that all cows, sheep, pigs be made unconscious with application of a stunning device by a trained person before the beef is hoisted on the line. A strict interpretation of religious law requires that the animal be fully conscious when the carotid artery is cut. In 1978, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act was reauthorised. This covers all livestock slaughtered in federally inspected meat plants. As a result of this act, federal veterinarians are in meat packing plants continuously monitoring compliance with humane slaughter regulations. Exceptions are made for religions, which require that ritual slaughter without prior stunning is practiced as long as the slaughter is done in a humane way.

Treatment of livestock before slaughter impacts on the meat quality. Stress plays a key role, in our country where animals are made to wonder long distances from the north to the south, under hazardous conditions, exposure to inclement weather, rough handling, exhaustion and deprivation of food and water in some cases. This is worrisome because of its effect on the animals and the resultant poor quality of the meat.

Stress prior to the slaughter of the animal causes stored sugar to be released into the bloodstream. Consequently this is broken down in the muscles producing lactic acid, which increases level of acidity. Of course, acidity causes a partial breakdown if the muscle structure reduces the quality of the meat.

In Nigeria, the proliferation of illegal traditional slaughter slabs pose a danger to the society and where there is a legal abattoir, they are usually not equipped with modern equipment. They lack facilities for animal waste management, thus resulting in pollution of the surface and underground water. There is the stench from the effluent of burning of lorry tires in the processing of the skins of the animals. There is a whole lot of facilities lacking: Inadequate water supply in the abattoirs, absence of lairages, inadequate sanitary facilities, lack of electricity, proper drainages, incinerators, refrigeration and storage.

Exposure of meat to insects and other pathogens, lack of establishment of different workstations in the abattoir thereby depriving the butchers adequate stalls where the carcasses can be properly handled to reduce economic devaluation of the skins.

The butchers are often not trained in basic slaughter skills, food safety and good personal hygiene. They often do not have hot water to sterilise their knives and equipment after use.

There is a crying need for all stakeholders to carry out routine inspection and registration of abattoirs and regularly audit all the processes to engender hygienic practices. Identification of noncompliance and recommendation for upgrade of operation procedures would undoubtedly be necessary. Personnel loading meat into vehicles should follow strict rules of not carrying it on their shoulders as if often the case, which apart from being unhealthy is unsightly. Animal carcasses should be kept in coolers after dressing, to slow down bacterial growth and maintain the meat in ideal conditions. Failure to do this will result in rapid multiplication of bacteria in the meat.

Transportation of meat in hot climates as is the case in Nigeria from the abattoir to the market in the booths of cars, buses, motorbikes and bicycles exposes the meat to infestations and induces spoilage. The meat should be transported in refrigerated customised vans exclusively and where this is not available, the meat should be placed in coolers with dry ice. Lagos State Government should be commended for introducing meat vans for transporting meat from the abattoirs to the market.

When the meat gets to the market, the traders display their meat on tables in the hot sun where it is exposed to dust, flies and other contaminants. This is not a good hygienic practice as it leads to proliferation of microorganisms on the exposed meat product. It will be advisable for markets to provide refrigerated conditions for meat sellers to display their products.

It should go without saying that sale of meat outside the market or supermarket, a situation where it is sold by the roadside on makeshift tables, at street corners and on the highways by street hawkers is unacceptable and must be stopped.

The Danish Crown Slaughterhouse in Horsens is touted as the most modern slaughter in the world. It is the world’s largest exporter of pork. Completed in 2004, it kills 100, 000 pigs per week, 90 per cent of this pork is exported around the world. It employs 1, 420 people and receives 150 people daily. It has a viewing gallery open to the public. In each step in the slaughtering process, the different parts of the meat are stamped, scanned and recorded, so that each piece of the meat can be traced back to the farm, where it was raised and the time of slaughter.

There is need for the current administration to urgently convene a stakeholders conference which will include the local, state and federal authorities, the ministries of agriculture and rural development, health, environment, trade and industry as well as government regulatory agencies such as Standard Organisation of Nigeria (SON), NAFDAC, CPC, the Nigerian Veterinarian Association (NVA), the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science. Nigerians are susceptible to many life-threatening diseases such as tuberculosis and other zoometric diseases if nothing is done to revamp the sector.

There is a need for public-private partnership in the management of abattoirs. Nigerians spend a lot of foreign currency importing meat from South Africa and the United States. That Nigeria can emerge as one of the world exporters of high quality meat products, as well as meet local consumption needs is, to my mind, achievable. The processing of meat should not be limited to cows but should be extended to goats, sheep, pigs and chickens.

The current President, who has been an animal farmer for a number of years, should be interested in overhauling and revamping the livestock subsector to make it an economic game changer.

0 Comments