MMC Jeanette Mahlangu
Head of Department
Councillors present
Officials of the Department
Farmers present
Ladies and gentlemen
It gives me great pleasure standing before you tonight, as we recognise the sterling job and the immense contribution by our Veterinary Public Health officials, as we gathered for our second Provincial Abattoir Rating Scheme Award ceremony. Let me pass my appreciation to our Vet Public Health and Communications officials, for organising and arranging this event. The response displays that you are sensitively receptive to the needs of the abattoir owners and livestock farmers.
Your efforts further shows that you are not unsympathetically resistant to the plight of the abattoir owners and farmers, but are continuously seeking ways and means to provide a better service that is above reproach.
Accordingly, this awards ceremony lived up to its aim of fostering professionalism in the way in which Veterinary Public Health officials render their services. The National Abattoir Rating Scheme provides a significant platform on which their experiences and challenges are shared, and how to build on these successes and to overcome impediments.
Ladies and gentlemen, legislation and other regulatory measures aimed at ensuring that the food we eat is safe and handled hygienically are probably one of the oldest statutory arrangements to be found in society. Meat Safety has become a highly topical debate amid the food scares all over the world. But the confidence consumers have in the safety and suitability of food derivatives, in part, comes from the perception of the effectiveness of food control measures, including regulatory control, inspection and certification.
It’s all thanks to the Meat Safety Act Number 40 of 2000, which provides for measures to promote meat safety and the safety of animal products; establishes and maintains essential national standards in respect of abattoirs; and which also regulates the importation and exportation of meat. Standing Regulations promulgated under the Act are there to provide for the changing environment of food safety assurances.
These regulations, amongst others, provide improved guidelines in providing meat safety assurances; and also require the evaluation of the abattoir standards in accordance with a Hygiene Assessment System. The vision for the Hygiene Assessment System is to have a national evaluation system implemented at abattoirs that promotes and facilitates quality and hygiene in South Africa and South African meat quality abroad.
Note that the evaluation or audit of abattoirs in terms of the Meat Safety Act and the applicable regulations is of major importance to ensure national standards of facilities registered for this purpose. We must keep in mind that meat and meat products are marketed and transported throughout the country.
Ladies and gentlemen, I must mention that the Abattoir Industry, like any other industry, has its own challenges. According to the Red Meat Abattoir Association, the industry has been identified as large consumers of water. The annual water consumption of the red meat industry alone, as recorded in 1989, was approximately 5.8-million cubic metres. Approximately 84% of this water is discharged as wastewater containing high organic load, including suspended matter.
Let us remember that South Africa is generally recognised as being a water-scares country, with the current rate of rise in demand projections indicating that the demand will equal available supplies by the year 2020. This means that water management has become a serious challenge for the abattoir industry.
I am however delighted to announce that our Department of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Administration is busy with the construction of new abattoirs; the first of which was the poultry abattoir in Casteel, and the other which is nearing completion in Nkomazi. Let me take this opportunity and call upon every Veterinary Public Health official, our foot soldiers, to enmesh themselves in every aspect of the abattoir environment and ensure that they stay abreast of all new developments in the industry. Stay in touch with the abattoir owners and livestock farmers, whose voices have been heard through the work that you are doing.
Ladies and gentlemen, let me also emphasise the importance of training and continuous re-evaluation of skills of workers and operators, as this provides the necessary assurances to local and international consumers as to the safety and quality of the product. Training programs provided by the Red Meat Abattoir Association, for example, enhances assurance with regard to the slaughter and hygiene process in terms of the requirements of the Meat Safety Act. For the latest trends about the industry, I suggest you also get in touch with the relevant organisations that are leading in the industry, including the International Meat Quality Assurance, the National Emergent Red Meat Producers Organisation, the National Federation of Meat Traders, Red Meat Producers Organisation, and the SA Federation for Livestock Auctioneers and Meat Brokers.
Let us all remember, at all times, that abattoirs are expected to meet the health, quality and safety standards by way of implementing an approved hygiene management program, and these organisations are amongst those that can help equip and empower us.
As I conclude, I would like to emphasise the significance of this provincial awards to all the abattoir owners, and urge them to put in a renewed effort to partake in the abattoir rating scheme, and try to come out tops in the section they are competing in. I wish you well for the remainder of this year, and may this be a year of excelling in our efforts to graduate our abattoir owners.
I thank you.
