STORY BY ZAINABU ISSAHTHICK black smoke rises from the uncompleted building into the air clouding the building.
Bare-chested men covered in blood and dirt furiously fan and open fire fuelled by tyres to prepare slaughtered animals for the market.
Then an army of houseflies, ant and other insects oblivious of the human organised activity around attacked the pile of lifeless animals ready to be skinned.
Just beside the heap of carcass, there is stinking pool full of blackish water filled with plastics and burnt fleece.These are but a few of the many nauseating scenes that met one until the construction of the new ultra-modern abattoir facility at Madina in Accra.
Compared to the old slaughter house, the new abattoir is miles ahead in terms of both safety and hygiene.
Johnny’s Food and Meat Complex (as the new place is known) is a one stop shop for a tall list of agricultural produce livestock and poultry.
The well ventilated abattoir is tiled and has a slaughter room specifically for the butchering of animals. The room is immediately washed and cleaned after every slaughter to keep the place hygienic at all times.The animal is then fleeced in an oven and then washed twice in a basin under a clean running water to have a clean skin to get the skin----‘wele’ which is a delicacy for many Ghanaians.
The carcass is then run through a cutter which is so sharp that it cuts through the bones of the animal rendering the butcher’s knife useless.
The meat is then packaged into clean plastic bags before being transported into the market.
An excited Chief Butcher at Madina Market, Mr Inusa Fuseini, was full of praises for the new abattoir.
“It is safer and more convenient. The hustle associated with the old is far reduced comparably.”
He could not resist the temptation of narrating how animals are handled at the old place.
He started: “the animals, when slaughtered, are laid on the bare floor to drain the blood from them.”
“An open fire mostly made of car tyres is then prepared. The dead animal is then placed on the fire in order to burn and brush its skin which usually lasts more than an hour.”
According to him, the carcass is again washed on the bare floor and cut into pieces to remove the unwanted substances from the animal.Mr Inusa said the processes were also done at a fast pace in order to meet the demand of customers and
clients.
Interestingly, the health implications were not lost on him.
“We usually don’t take many precautions on the sanitation aspect because we do not have anywhere else to operate and this building was put up by us so we do things our own way”, he explained.
The slaughtering of meat in unhygienic conditions in the country has been a matter of concern for some time now.Meat processed in this old dilapidated abattoir is grim hence poses a health risk to consumers.
Many Ghanaians buy meat from these butchers every day without knowing the abattoir it is coming from, sometimes compromising their health.
These situations have, therefore, made the safety of meat on the Ghanaian market; particularly those slaughtered locally, a source of concern over the years.
To stem the trend, the Chief Executive Officer of the complex, Mr Ohene Agyekum, said the abattoir was equipped with sophisticated modern facilities to ensure high quality control standard of the complex.
In addition, the abattoir has a veterinary office, two big warehouses for the storage of food and meat produce, slaughtering and dressing departments, a parking lot for customers and a mini market.He told the Daily Graphic that management of the abattoir was environmentally conscious hence animal waste substances was converted into gas for reuse.
According to him, slaughtered animals went through rigorous routine checks at the complex to ensure that they were clean and healthy before going to market for consumption.
“There is a department that handles the slaughtering, dressing, beef bone in, beef liver, beef burger among others,” he explained.
Additionally, the complex is intended to deal with farmers both within the poultry and the farming industry.The abattoir also has a kraal and a pen to keep animals bought from farmers within the country and slaughtered at the abattoir by customers who placed orders.
He said the abattoir provides instant slaughtering of about five cows, 40-50 goats and sheep and 50 birds for customers daily.
“This is a whole modern farm factory. All you have to do is to come in and choose any farm produce you want and we would slaughter it for you”, he said.
Mr Agyekum further told Daily Graphic that a mini market was also under construction within the complex so as to receive and harbour market women who would want to operate and sell their wares within the complex.This he said would improve on food security and create job opportunities for the youth who were coming out of the tertiary institutions in the country with speciality in agriculture.
Mr Agyekum therefore called on the government to provide support which would help hasten the completion of the abattoir for it to start operating fully in the country.
Butchers at the Madina Market who spoke to the Daily Graphic expressed satisfaction with the meat production at the complex.They said the new and modern facility involved in the slaughtering and dressing of the animals had helped to improve on their meat delivery and sales.
“In the past, it took a longer time to get meat ready for sale but now we do not have to worry about the time. We get the meat when we want it”.
They also called on the government to see to it that the poultry, livestock and farming sectors in the country were well catered for and provided the necessary equipment and facility to improve the sector.
