Meat and beef dealers who have persistently failed to meet minimum required standards of hygiene in Rwanda are having it rough following a crackdown by the government.
Fifteen butcheries have been temporarily shut down and 400kg of meat confiscated and destroyed.
“The inspectors discovered that the butchers were selling rotten meat to the public in a recent case in Kigali,” said Dr Judith Kanyandekwe, the head of Animal Resources Department at Rwanda Agricultural Board.
“We took two months to educate the dealers. We are now moving towards the next step, to act according to the law and arrest some culprits to reduce the health risks,” Dr Kanyandekwe said.
Dr Kanyadekwe explains that usually cattle slaughtering is carried out on the ground, in many cases the carcass splitting, cutting and deboning are done on the same contaminated floor area. The butcheries are said to supply meat from fly infested tables.
Such practices cause a high risk of contamination with food poisoning micro-organisms, such as salmonella among other risks but some medics say that Rwanda doesn’t have the ability to determine these risks.
There have not been any serious cases in the Kigali city abattoirs however the rural areas have been hardest hit with reluctance to uphold hygiene standards according to experts.
“It is expensive to switch on the fridge the whole day. The electricity charges are too high and we try to work around this by minimising the daily costs,” a dealer said.
Rwanda parliamentarians, led by Habbas Mukama, the vice president of parliament have since ordered the closure of Rusizi abattoir in Kamembe due to poor hygiene there.
“The hygiene here is appalling and dangerous to the citizens. This place should be closed down as you look for someone else to handle the cleaning services,” Mr Mukama said.
Rwanda’s State Minister for Agriculture, Tony Nsanganira says that the issue of meat hygiene calls for consistent enforcement as some of the butchers continue to neglect the legal hygiene requirements and standards.
