Agriculture ministry moving to centralised abattoirs

BY ALICIA DUNKLEY Observer staff reporter dunkleya@jamaicaobserver.com

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

THE agriculture ministry is to know by year-end the best possible locations for several centralised slaughter facilities as it continues to clamp down on illegal abattoirs.

"It is a very significant issue. Jamaica has to come to terms with establishing food safety standards," insisted Agriculture Minister Dr Christopher Tufton at yesterday's Monday Exchange meeting of Observer reporters and editors at the newspaper's Beechwood Avenue headquarters in Kingston.

"We are following that study with another which shouldn't take too long to determine what model we would need to move the process forward in keeping with the traceability we require," he said.

Tufton, who in 2008 commissioned a study of the status of abattoirs, said a second study is now underway which should move the industry in the right direction.

The 2008 study was released last year and revealed that of the 1,100 or so slaughter houses, just under 500 were registered with the health ministry.

Tufton, who had expressed alarm at the findings at the time, said it was an imperative that meat going into the trade should be slaughtered in approved abattoirs with access to veterinary services to check the health of animals and also allow for traceability of the foods for other purposes such as illegal activities.

Last year, $23 million was allocated for the establishment of a passport system for livestock to allow for animal registration and identification.

"If you have a cow or goat for commercial purpose it has to be registered, and if it is to be sold it has to be accompanied by identification which speaks to its origin," Tufton said at the time.

Yesterday, the agriculture minister said the plan was still to "centralise a few abattoirs".

"Bring them to the highest level of certification (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point) HACCP and all commercial meats that will go into the tourism industry or be exported must flow through one of these," he explained.

"Then you establish another 100 or so community-type facilities which are still at a certain standard but not necessarily HACCP certified... but certainly, when it comes on to the commercial side we need to move to that level," he said further.

"We are waiting on the consultants to come back and tell us if we were to set up four or five of those, where would they be located to ensure that efficiency levels are established," he added.

Dr Tufton said the proposed centralised entities would be run through private-public sector partnerships.

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Agriculture ministry moving to centralised abattoirs