Our unsightly and unhealthy abattoirs!

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 slaughter house is a place where animals like cattle, 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, 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.