In
a country like Nigeria, which prides herself as the Giant of Africa, there is
no act regulating the killing of animals.
This 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 in a forum, the
former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, and current President of
The African Development Bank (ADB) described the state of abattoirs in the
country as “unacceptable and distasteful”, stating further 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 Organization (FAO), calling for
a paradigm shift to reverse the ugly trend. One would have wished that the
minister would have gone beyond lamenting the poor state of affairs in the
livestock sub-sector to putting in place a regulatory framework with all
relevant stakeholders to sanitize the sector.
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 animals.
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 whilst
bemoaning the lack of a code of conduct guiding how meat and meat products are
processed for human consumption, also decrying the slaughter of pregnant
animals. Estimating that 450 pregnancies are lost daily due to the slaughter of
pregnant animals in Nigeria, this fact is quite disturbing. He also called on
the National Assembly to as a matter of urgency promulgate enabling laws to
regulate abattoirs and processing of meat.
This unhygienic and
contaminated meat that is produced in these abattoirs end up in the plates of
all Nigerians, and the emanating health implications, should be of concern to
all Nigerians, both to those in authority from the Local, State, And Federal levels,
whose responsibility it is to regulate the industry. The lawmakers at all tiers
especially at the State level, whose role it is to promulgate laws that govern
and safeguard the general public should be alive to their responsibilities.
It is of grave concern that Nigeria has no
functional mechanized abattoir. Whilst South Africa has a large number of
mechanized abattoirs that produce high quality safe meat exported around the
world. Most countries have legislation that require that animals are rendered
unconscious (stunned) by a humane way before bleeding. In the United States Act
of 1958, it requires that all cattle,
sheep, pigs be stunned unconscious with application of a stunning device by a
trained person before being hoisted up on the line, while strict interpretation
of religious law require that the animal be fully conscious when the carotid
artery is cut. In 1978, the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act was reauthorized
and covered 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 trek long distances from the North of the
country to the South, under hazardous conditions, exposure to inclement weather,
rough handling, exhaustion and deprivation of food and water in some cases, 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, this increased level of acidity causes a partial breakdown
if the muscle structure causing the meat
to be of poor quality.
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 waste management, discharge of blood and animal waste
into streams, thereby resulting in pollution of the surface and underground
water.
A visit to any abattoir in
Nigeria, and you will be greeted by the stench from the effluent of burning of
lorry tires in the processing of the skins of the animals. Lack of provision of
adequate water supply in the abattoirs, absence of lairages, inadequate
sanitary facilities, lack of electricity, lack of proper drainages, lack of
incinerators, lack of refrigeration and storage facilities.
Exposure of meat to insects
and other pathogens, lack of establishment of different workstations in the
abattoir thereby not providing the butchers with adequate stalls where the
carcasses can be properly handled to reduce economic devaluation of the skins.
The butchers are often not
trained with basic slaughter skills and food safety and good personal hygiene.
They often do not have hot water to sterilize their knives and equipment after
use, to avoid contamination of the meat.
There in need for all stakeholders
to carry out routine inspection and registration of all abattoirs in the
country, to regularly audit all the processes to improve hygienic practices. Identification
of non compliance and recommendation for upgrade of operation procedures were
necessary.
Proper handlings of the animal
caresses during and after the slaughtering also pose major health risks to
consumer. Personnel handling meat from the abattoir to the vehicle should
follow strict rules not carrying the meat on their shoulders as if often the
case, taking care to minimize handling. 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 like Nigeria from the abattoir to the market in the booths of cars,
buses, motorbikes, bicycles expose the meat to infestations by insects and
encourage spoilage. The meat should be transported in refrigerated customized
vans, which should not carry anything other than the meat 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 the meat
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 meat products.
Finally the sale of meat
outside the markets and supermarkets should be regulated and enforced a
situation where meat is sold by the roadside on makeshift tables, at street
corners and on the highways by street hawkers should be discouraged and
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% of this pork is exported around the world. 1420 people
are employed there and it 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 including
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 Organization of Nigeria (SON), NAFDAC, CPC, The Nigerian veterinarian
Association (NVA), the Nigerian Institute of Animal Science.
Nigerians are susceptible to
a number of 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 State of
America. That Nigeria can emerge as one of the world exporters of high quality
meat products, as well as meet it’s local consumption needs in to my mind
achievable. The processing of meats should not be limited to cattle 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 n economic game changer.
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