@FAOGhana/David Youngs

FAO, in partnership with the School of Veterinary Medicine of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, organize food safety training for main actors in the meat value chain.

Livestock production is a major feature in Ghana’s agriculture and contributes largely towards meeting food and nutrition security, providing draught power, manure to maintain soil fertility and structure as well as to provide income, particularly for farmers in the northern part of the country. Both meat and milk production represents about 30 per cent of the national animal protein requirements. 

Despite the presence of urban abattoirs, many cattle destined for slaughter and for the commercial sale of meat are killed at small, rural slaughter slabs, usually owned by local butchers with simple tools. In this context, many food-borne diseases (FBDs), such as salmonellosis and zoonotic diseases such as bovine tuberculosis, cysticercosis, and brucellosis can be transmitted from animals to humans through the handling or consumption of meat and other animal products. Therefore, meat inspection at slaughter facilities to ensure that food business operators fulfil their obligations to produce safe food becomes essential to protect public health.

It is in line with bridging the gap in the training along the meat value chain that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in partnership with the School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and organized a five-day training on food safety. A total of 41 participants of the organisations involved in the meat value chain (Veterinary meat inspectors from 16 regions in the country, Chief Veterinary Officer, butchers, Livestock farmer, trader and transporter, Women in Poultry Value Chain, Ghana Police Service, Animal Science Department of KNUST and the SVM). 

In his opening remarks, on behalf of the Director of the  Veterinary Services of Ghana, Mr Paul Poulku, Veterinary Officer in charge of Accra Metropolitan Area, affirmed that “This is an important training workshop, attended by participants drawn from the 16 regions to enable Veterinary Meat Inspectors to interact with other meat value chain actors”.

In representation of the FAO, the Country Team Leader of the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD), Mr Garba Ahmed, stated that “There are standard practices for meat inspection and it is very important to bring actors in the meat value chain to be trained to be at the same level of these standard practices”.  

The Provost of the College of Health Sciences, Prof. Christian Agyare, stated that “the workshop has identified facilitators with rich experiences that will be shared with participants. The School of Veterinary Medicine has established eight programmes of study, whose courses can be taken by participants”.

In representation of the director of the German West African Center on pandemic preparedness (G-WAC), Prof. Alexander Debrah reiterated the need “to train meat inspectors in order to tame the spread of zoonotic diseases that often stem out of meat consumption, especially game meats”.

FAO supports food safety regulations

In Ghana, the oversight of slaughter facilities involves three key government institutions: the Food and Drug Authority (FDA), the Environmental Health and Sanitation Unit of the local government and the Veterinary Service Directorate. The FDA has published guidelines for licensing of slaughterhouses/slabs to provide owners and/or managers of Slaughter Houses/Slabs with the requirements by which these facilities shall be brought into compliance with the Public Health Act, 2012, (Act 851).

The Veterinary Services Directorate has also developed meat inspection regulations, which have been passed by the Parliament of Ghana as Meat Inspection Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2405). 

This training will afford the participants the opportunity to understand the implementation of this recently approved Meat Inspection Regulations 2020 (L.I. 2405) and the role of veterinary meat inspectors, butchers, livestock traders and meat handlers on food safety under this regulation.

FAO’s engagement to meat safety in Ghana

In order to improve meat safety and quality, FAO has conducted a series of training for veterinary meat inspectors and butchers. In September 2017, May 2018 and April 2021, the FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) trained veterinary meat inspectors in Ghana for the rapid recognition and reporting of zoonotic diseases in slaughter facilities. In addition to this training, FAO trained 85 veterinary personnel in the screening of food animals for zoonoses in slaughter facilities in September 2021 and it has also conducted the mapping of slaughter establishment in Ghana, the sensitization of butchers and development of guidelines for the meat inspection technical committee.