|
Assembly to seize carcasses of
uncertified livestock for public health safety
Cape Coast, Nov. 21, Ghanadot/GNA- The Environmental Health
Unit of the Cape Coast Municipal Assembly (CCMA) has put in
place measures to seize and destroy carcasses of livestock
slaughtered at the abattoir without due supervision by the
unit and the veterinary services.
The Assembly has therefore mounted surveillance at the
slaughterhouse in Cape Coast to arrest the recalcitrant
butchers and prosecute them to serve as a deterrent.
The Municipal Environmental Health Officer, Nana Poku, told
the GNA in an interview at Cape Coast on Tuesday that the
assembly was determined to stem the practice to safeguard
public health since "you cannot live in a society and allow
lawlessness to prevail".
According to him, the assembly had not been able to arrest
anyone yet, because "anytime we are tipped off, the culprits
run away before we get there, that is why we are mounting
the surveillance".
He explained that officials from his unit and the veterinary
services report at the slaughter house daily from 0600 hours
to 1000 hours to ensure that the animals brought there for
slaughtering are healthy and done under hygienic conditions.
He claimed that although the supervising officials have
asked the butchers to contact them if they had more
livestock to slaughter after 1000 hours, they do not do so.
Nana Poku said some of the butchers intentionally wait till
they have left the slaughterhouse before they bring in the
animals, some of which are not healthy.
According to him, some of the butchers also want to avoid
paying levies to the assembly and the veterinary services.
Ismalia Sarikin, a spokesman for the chief butcher accused
the CCMA of neglecting the slaughterhouse by not ensuring
its proper management, leading to the deplorable state.
According to him, the assembly had refused to connect water
to the premises and have also not provided the necessary
amenities, and that all that the officials were interested
in, "was carrying away free meat".
Meanwhile, the Central Region Livestock Farmers Association
(CERLFA) has begun registering butchers in the region to
enable them to undergo medical examination to ensure that
they are healthy to sell to the public.
GNA
|
