Analysis of the postharvest food safety management systems in the meat supply chain: a case of Uganda

Abstract

Under Ugandan Vision 2030 and the rural sustainable development goals, the Ugandan Government considers livestock production as an essential economic activity that can be used to promote food security and reduce poverty. The meat sector contributes about 9% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 17% of the agricultural. Due to an increase in the population, urbanization, and rising income, there is an increasing demand and consumption of meat and animal products in Uganda and other developing countries; However, Meat-borne outbreaks and cases of non-compliances by meat producers to safety procedures have led to the rejection of the meat in the global markets. Also, the meat produced loses its economic value because of the poor quality and safety of the meat and meat products. The contamination of meat is primarily from the exterior of the animal, mainly from the hide of the animal and the surrounding environment. Therefore, meat producers are generally expected to relay on the use of several control and assurance activities such as washing of hands, wearing of protective clothing, cleaning, and sanitization of butchery equipment and utensils, transportation of meat in clean containers and storage of meat at appropriately low temperatures along the supply chain. These study aimed at assessing the performance of the core control and core assurance activities of slaughterhouses, evaluating the hygienic and preventative practices of the retail outlets (butcher shops and Supermarkets), and analyzing, the existing governance structures between the slaughterhouse and retail outlets and how they influenced the safety and quality of meat. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in three slaughterhouses and 204 retail meat outlets (butcher shops and supermarkets) within the five divisions of Kampala, Uganda. All the slaughterhouses were located within areas that were close to heavy traffic and were surrounded by residential houses that allowed very little room for expansion of the facilities. The average score for the core control activity was one which meant that the activities carried out were basic and were often characterized by ad-hoc sampling, minimal criteria used for Food Safety management systems (FSMS) evaluation, and existence of various food safety problems due to different issues in the FSMS. The core assurance activities had not been fully implemented as compared to the core control activities though they too had an average score of one. The retail outlets majorly depended on visual characteristics to determine if the meat is of good quality rather than microbial tests. In general, the supermarkets implemented better hygienic and preventative practices as compared to the butcher shops. The study also revealed that most meat handlers in Kampala do not adhere to the required hygienic and preventative practices. All the sanitation and hygiene handling practices investigated could provide avenues for contamination of meat and the possibility of occurrence of foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms, hence decreasing the chances of meeting the international standards. Most of the contracts between the retail outlets and the slaughterhouses were reported to be market/ transactional, while very few reported having flexible contracts. The nature of communication was reported to be informal and most of the information exchanged was planning information since the retail shoppers rarely reject meat due to lack of laboratory/facility to test microbial pathogen levels. The choice of slaughterhouse chosen by the retail meat handlers is varying but most reported searching for good quality meat as the reason for using one or more suppliers. In conclusion, these highlights that most of the meat handlers in the supply chain Kampala did not adhere to the required meat sanitation and hygiene standards and all the practices investigated could provide avenues for contamination of meat and the possibility of occurrence of foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms, hence raising public health concerns. This study recommends that meat handlers should invest more on education on the basic practices of meat handling hygiene. It also recommends that the standards be sold at cheaper prices or given out freely so the meat operators can have access to them. The government should put up a more stringent measure to ensure all butcher shops have quality standard certificates. Furthermore, there is allot of overlap and fragmentation among the different supervisory authorities in government, they should set up one body that is solely responsible for the meat sector.