Standards body, UNBS has set a number of guidelines to be met by butcheries in Kampala as one of the ways to ensure meats standards and protecting the consumers.
During a meeting with all butchery owners in the city, UNBS standards officer, Awath Aburu highlighted a number of guidelines that ought to be followed.
“All butcheries should possess occupation permits, possess a medical examination certificate, valid trading license, first aid kit, sell only hygienic meat and meat products as well as using appropriate insect traps and screens,” Aburu told the butchery owners.
He also told them that standards require that during construction, butchery owners should use smooth and easy to clean food grade surfaces, separate areas within butcheries for offals, have Vermin and fly proof screens, use stainless tools and equipment.
According to UNBS standards, butcheries and owners should be clean before handling meat, wear clean personal protective gears, separate personnel handling money and meat should be in place as well as frequently washing handing during meat handling.
“Attendants at butcheries should put jewelleries and personal items in changing rooms, meat for sale should be displayed on hooks, meat from different animal species should be displayed separately and no wearing of body perfume.”
The butchery owners were also warned against using ropes to hang meat for display, use of unknown disinfectants, having live animals in the butchery, using unapproved insecticides, operating where there is no drainage and locating butcheries near refuse dump, stable ,poultry houses and use of rusty equipment.
Rehema Meeme, a standards officer at UNBS noted that it is important to ensure quality and safety of meat and its products to safe guard the health and safety of Ugandan consumers.
“During UNBS recent field inspections, we found some butcheries are built near sewerage channels, some lack appropriate sanitary facilities, in some butcheries, beef carcasses are not inspected and have no approval stamp, meat stays on the shelves for longer periods, use of pesticide concoctions on meat to chase away flies among other issues and these must stop ,” she said.
