KCCA, MAAIF emphasise beef standards

By Juliet Waisswa

Selling of sub standard beef in the city will soon be history with alternative standard slaughter houses in the offing, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) executive director Jennifer Musisi has revealed.

According to Musisi only a few of Kampala slaughter houses have the minimum required standards for an abattoir while others are just struggling to meet the standards.

The proprietor of Egypt Uganda food security, Eng. Hassan Fath-allah (left) takes Jenifer Musisi (second left) on a tour of the ultra modern abbatoir at Nyimbwa Bombo in Luwero district on June 8, 2015. Photo/ Ronnie Kijjambu   

Musisi said that KCCA, Uganda National Bureau of Standards, and the Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries (MAAIF) have come up with standards which slaughter houses in the city and elsewhere must meet.

According to KCCA all slaughter houses are expected to have standard equipment used during slaughtering to avoid contamination.

The ultra modern abbatoir at Nyimbwa Bombo in Luwero district on June 8, 2015 will be the first of its kind in Uganda and will be the benchmark for other abbatoirs. Photo/ Ronnie Kijjambu   

Other standards are : enough water, washable walls, coolers and lighting to see the defects on the meat, proper waste disposal, an incinerator, and a clean washable place for animals to rest for at least 12 hours before they are slaughtered.

"We are putting in place strict instructions to make sure that we control the standard of beef not only in Kampala but also its suburbs," Musisi said on Monday during a tour of  a modern Egypt- Uganda Food Security abattoir in Bombo.

KCCA  ED Jenifer Musisi (left) talks to the press as the proprietor of Egypt - Uganda Food Security, Eng. Hassan Fath-allah (right) looks on after a tour of the ultra modern abbatoir (in the back ground) at Nyimbwa village near Bombo town in Luwero district on June 8, 2015. Photo/Ronnie Kijjambu                               
 

The KCCA team which included the directors of Public Health, David Seruka and Daniel Okello, and the legal team, among other officials, were on the tour to forge a way on how Kampala's slaughter houses should look like.

At the beginning of this year Musisi revealed that all city abattoirs should have modern facilities. 

Musisi was in company  of the assistant commissioner Public Health and marketing MAAIF, Benon Kyokwijuka who said that all abattoir owners and stakeholders will be required to meet the standards.

"Now that we have an alternative slaughter house we shall enforce standards," Kyokwijuka said.

Fath -allah Hassan, a private investor, said that his US$11m plant can slaughter 1,000 cows daily and has a storage capacity of 5000 slaughtered animals.

Hassan said that when the first phase of the factory is complete, 500 people will be employed.

The factory has a reception where cows will rest for 24 hours before slaughter, coolers, skinning equipment and a processing plant.