The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development cordially invites you to the provincial Meat Safety Project Awards, which aims to enhance better performance and promote compliance of abattoirs to the Meat Safety Act of 2004.
The department has forged partnerships with private companies to ensure that the standard of meat from our abattoirs is of high level and the public to private partnership has vowed that all the 90 plus provincial abattoirs will comply by December 2010. Despite the fact that the target date is in December 2010, the department, through its veterinary public health (VPH) section, would ensure that a substantial number of abattoirs produced quality meat to serve our visitors during the spectacular 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Veterinary Public Health unit is enthusiastic about the meat safety project, adding that one of the department’s contributions towards 2010 FIFA World Cup was to ensure hygienic and safe meat. These provincial meat safety awards follow a pilot programme in the Amathole district last year where a total of 11 operational abattoirs were audited and short listed to compete in different categories.
Due to the success and enthusiasm shown by abattoirs and role players in the Department’s endeavours to ensure quality meat, the pilot was escalated to the rest of the province where fifty operational abattoirs were subjected to hygienic audits and 32 were short listed. Veterinary public health officials will monitor and evaluate progress of the abattoirs in the province, even those who did not make the shortlist as well as those who are not fully operational. On-site technical support is given regularly.
One of the aims of the project is to contribute towards the department’s priority of livestock improvement in a bid to contribute to food security. One of the goals of the partnership is that the Pick ‘n Pay and Ackerman Foundation, which is one of our partners, would help aspiring rural abattoirs with financial support and that the abattoirs would eventually supply Pick n’ Pay with their meat.
Pick n’ Pay and Ackerman Foundation’s aims of assisting rural abattoirs is in line with the department's skills development initiatives of exposing rural emerging farmers to abattoirs and an indaba where these farmers expressed interests was organised by the department recently.
Another partner, Johnson Diversey, has pledged to conduct Secure Check programme to at least ten abattoirs this year, while the new partner Shoprite will finance the prizes as well support feedlot initiatives aimed at conditioning the stock of emerging farmers in the province. This partnership is a testimony of the government motto: “Working together we can do more” while it also enhances our new mandate of rural development which requires integration of services not only by government departments but private sector as well.
Members of the media are hereby invited to be part of a glittering gala event where MEC Mbulelo Sogoni, MPL, will lead the department and together with stakeholders will ensure that emerging and aspirant abattoirs are not only awarded but encouraged to improve the quality. These abattoirs would be assisted not only to meet national and international standards but to become financially viable.
Details of the event
Venue: Tsitsikama Conference Centre (Board Walk), Summerstrand, Port Elizabeth
Date: 26 November 2009
Time: 18h00
For more information contact:
Yvonne Matsheketwa
Cell: 076 868 7257
Issued by: Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, Eastern Cape Provincial Government
6 November 2009
