We want our meat clean, safe, consumers tell chiefs
Meat on sale in Olailong Market in Gulu City. Residents are concerned that authorities are not inspecting the meat being sold in the city. PHOTO/TEDDY DOKOTHO
What you need to know:
- The city currently needs veterinary staff to inspect meat in markets and butcheries.
As hundreds of animals are slaughtered in Gulu City’s main abattoir in Bardege-Layibi Division every day, some residents are concerned that meat is distributed to various sale points for consumption without inspection. This publication reached out to Gulu City`s Health Inspector Michael Rubangakene last Tuesday about the matter but he referred our reporter to the Gulu City Town Clerk saying that he is not authorised to speak about the matter.
‘’I am not the one in charge of that issue to which you are seeking answers. Get in touch with the City Clerk (Gulu), he will give you all the answers you are looking for,’’ Mr Rubangakene said by telephone. Mr Bernard Opolot, the deputy clerk for Gulu City, without disclosing the duration spent without veterinary officers attributed stalled inspection to staffing gaps.
He noted: “There have been some gaps, and there are about three abattoirs in this city, we don’t have adequate staff that is the challenge,” he noted. According to Mr Opolot, Gulu City sought support from the neighbouring Omoro District and got three veterinary staff but they quit due to challenges relating to facilitation.
He, however, noted that Gulu City authorities have held meetings seeking to address the matter as soon as they can. Animals slaughtered in Gulu City come from Pader, Agago, Lira,among other districts. Some of these districts have reported outbreaks of livestock diseases including Foot and Mouth and Bovine papillomavirus.
Mr Patrick Oola Lumumba, the Mayor of Bardege-Layibi Division, last month told this publication that members of the public are sitting on a time bomb, noting that meat sold within Gulu City has not been inspected for at least seven months.
This publication couldn’t independently verify the time frame. He said: “I want to tell you that there is a health hazard in this city, people are consuming meat that has not been inspected. This has been happening for the last seven months.’’
Ms Christine Ayirwoth, a student at Gulu University, said a friend told her that most of the meat in the city not being inspected, a situation that could have result in transmission of zoonotic diseases, that the World Health Organisation (WHO) says are naturally transmissible from vertebrate animals to humans. The WHO notes that zoonotic pathogens can spread to humans through any contact point with domestic, agricultural or wild animals.
“Markets selling the meat or by-products of wild animals are particularly high risk due to the large number of new or undocumented pathogens known to exist in some wild animal populations,” the WHO said, in a statement issued on its website.
Ms Ayirwoth said: “Eating meat that was not inspected poses significant health risks to humans as it can be contaminated with harmful bacteria, parasites, viruses or toxins that cause illness, this is really scary.” The student who usually buys meat from a butcher in Olailong Market noted that she has halted consuming meat until when the practice of inspecting meat resumes. She noted: “For now I will have to stop (eating meat) and watch the space, and I want to urge the authorities to handle the matter urgently.”
A trainee veterinary officer in Gulu City who spoke on condition of anonymity for personal security reasons, warned the public against consuming uninspected meat and other animal products. ‘’Ideally, meat is supposed to be inspected every time, sometime back as a trainee I was taken to the abattoir I was shocked, and indeed I can tell you that the issues of inspection and hygiene remain a challenge,’’ the officer said.
The source added that butchers are taking advantage of the ignorance of the population about uninspected meat, adding that the halt of inspection arose from a rift between the health inspector and veterinary officer in Gulu City.
MEAT INSPECTION IS VITAL
The World Health Organisation says meat inspection is done to ensure that only apparently healthy, physiologically normal animals are slaughtered for human consumption and that abnormal animals are separated and dealt with accordingly and to also ensure meat from animals is free from disease, wholesome and of no risk to human health”.
Mr Isaac Lumago, the veterinary officer for Lamwo District said: “We inspect meat to protect human beings from zoonotic diseases...There are other diseases that humans can get from an infected animal. So, the only solution is to inspect the meat.’’
