Role of slaughter facilities management in zoonoses and safety of meat produced for human consumption in Nigeria: a review

This study attempts to review the role of slaughter facilities management of all zoonotic diseases encountered at the abattoirs as well as the safety of meat produced for public consumption in abattoirs in Nigeria. Good hygienic practices were totally absent in the abattoirs. There were dilapidated slaughtering and processing facilities, inadequate clean water supplies, no refrigerators and lack of facilities for the collection and storage of waste. Zoonotic agents demonstrated in slaughtered animals in Nigeria include Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Mycobacterium bovis, Leptospira species, Campylobacter species, Yersinia species, Clostridia species., Brucella abortus, Brucella melitensis, Brucella suis, and Salmonella spp. Other disease-causing infectious agents encountered at the abattoirs include Echerichia coli O157, Salmonella and Campylobacter species. The meat transportation is done by motor bike, wheel barrows and open vehicles and this become sources of physical contamination. Animals were not being examined regularly before or after slaughter, offals were washed with drainage water, effluent from drainage systems and that meat and organs cleaned from such drainages were sold to the public, leading to unsafe meat being released for public consumption. Meat and carcasses were conveyed out of the abattoir using unhygienic means of transport. Butchers and many abattoir workers were observed not using protective clothing during operations. Waste disposal was indiscriminate not regularly carried out which was hazardous to the environment, while the authorities concerned were not making any effort to improve the situation. Diseases such as Contagious Bovine Pleuropneumonia, Fasciolosis, Tuberculosis and Helminthoses were most frequently encountered some of the diseases were of public health and economic importance. Meat Inspection and hygiene Act shall be enacted and signed into law. Provision of waste disposal system such as incinerators are recommended. The drainage system should be upgraded and modernized. Use of abattoir waste as a manure and the slurry as fertilizer is also recommended. In Nigeria none of the abattoirs met the minimum hygienic standard of operation as recommended by the Codex Alimentarius and they could not have supported the production of safe meat and meat products for human consumption.