- Primitive and unhygienic methods of meat processing thrive across the country
IT is an outright state of anomie in most abattoirs across the country – there is no other way to describe it. It is indeed a wonder that the country does not suffer persistent outbreak of diseases going by the extremely filthy conditions of her abattoirs.
According to a report by this newspaper (August 12, 2017), there are barely half a dozen modern meat slaughter and processing slabs in the country. And as the report reveals, even the modern facilities are often sidetracked while butchers and ancillary workers prefer the open, crude, filthy and unhygienic methods.
A case in point is the Oko-Oba Abattoir and Lairage in Agege, Lagos State. Reputed to be the largest in Nigeria and perhaps, Africa, it is also, probably the filthiest.
Going by the report, Oko-Oba Abattoir is a most abominable sight to behold. It is probably reminiscent of 1850s Britain when abattoirs were open slaughter areas known as shambles; before a major reform was commenced in the meat processing industry in the Western world.
More than 150 years after meat management was revolutionised and modernised, the industry in Nigeria remains shamefully in its primordial stages. Here is how the report in reference described the Lagos meat hub in Agege:
“The slaughterhouse mists with heat, animal gore and dung; and the air swarms with stench and missiles of flying bone fragments, innards and blood spatter.
“None of the butchers and other abattoir workers adheres to slaughterhouse rules. None of them is putting on gloves, dedicated uniforms… they do not care about protecting the meat either. Thus, cows are slaughtered and processed in the blood, intestinal wastes and dungs of previous slaughters.
“Very few of the workers have rubber boots on their feet; many of them have bathroom slippers and other flimsy soles while an even more daring breed wade barefoot in the sea of blood, dung and bone fragments.
“Besides the insanitary meet processing culture, butchers carry meat on their backs and head from the slaughter slabs to the meat counters or points of sale in the abattoir’s retail section.
“Few paces from the slaughter slabs, several butchers and herd boys take their bath in the open with water spilling from an overhead tank. As they do, spatters of grime, soap, animal blood and dung cleansed from their bodies splash on displayed merchandise of cow tail, hide and intestine placed two paces from their open bath.
“The women tending the wares are hardly bothered that the goods meant for human consumption are being bathed upon and polluted by bad soap water.”
If the scene described above does not elicit fits of apoplexy, how about this:
“However, of the 1,200 cows killed and processed in the (Oko-Oba) abattoir daily, about 200 are wheeled to the slab severely bruised, diseased or dead. Thus, about 150 sickly cows … are killed daily in the abattoir. Findings reveal that at least 15 out of every 100 cows slaughtered at the abattoir are unhealthy while five out of every 100 cows are wheeled to the slabs as cadavers.”
If the prime abattoir in Lagos – the centre of excellence – is in this state, it is surely a signpost of the state of the industry in the entire country. But as noted earlier, slaughtering animals for food has long ceased to be an open air, grimy, shambolic activity.
It is today, a fully automated, highly regulated industry with extended value chains that provide jobs not to speak of sumptuous livelihood to its members. There are different types of modern abattoirs – simple, complex, even mobile ones.
But the basics are pre-slaughter herd management; proper waste management, availability of potable water; extensive public hygiene; methods of slaughter; meat inspection, packaging, freezing and transportation.
It is such a highly regulated business that in most countries, it is still strictly in the hands of government or carried out under stringent official oversight.
Apparently, it is not so in Nigeria. The Lagos State Ministry of Health should consider this an emergency! It must pay an immediate visit to the Oko-Oba Abattoir and indeed all the others in the state. What has been reported is a health and environmental calamity that must not be allowed to happen. The abandoned modern abattoir must be resuscitated and put to use pronto.
