How to make meat safe for everyone this festive season

Tomorrow, Christians all over the world will be celebrating Christmas, a day set aside to commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ, the pillar of Christian faith.

As has been tradition, the celebrations are normally marked by merry making, family get-together and at the centre of it, goats, sheep, cattle, turkeys and chickens in their thousands will be slaughtered to supply the much-needed meat. This puts the farmer at the centre of the celebrations as the main supplier of meat.

Cows, goats, sheep and turkey have been lucky, dodging the killer knife from January to November because no such numbers of family, relatives and guests gathered to warrant their slaughter. Chickens, on the other hand, have been unlucky as they have faced the knife to satiate the family protein supply and occasional visitors, a fate that will still befall them during this festive season.

So, where and how you should slaughter your animals for the meat is a question you should ask yourself. That act of slaughtering is critical both on health and legal bases and should not be taken lightly.

MEAT INSPECTOR

I insist you get a meat inspector to ascertain that the meat from the slaughtered animal is fit for human consumption. George Opil, my friend from Ugunja, posted a picture of a slaughtered goat hanging from a tree branch on his Facebook account. When I called him later, he was oblivious that he was actually breaking the law and posing a health risk to his friends gathered to devour the carcass.

The Meat Control Act of the Kenyan laws prohibits anyone from slaughtering any animal, except in a slaughterhouse. Such an animal must be inspected by an authorised inspecting officer before being slaughtered. The inspector, through observation, touch and cutting certain sections of the carcasses, can ascertain the safety of the meat.

This inspection serves to safeguard the consumer from any health risks resulting from the meat. Confinement of the slaughtering to the abattoir is a measure to ensure the meat is handled under a clean environment and reduce the risk of contamination.

Do you know that over 80 animal diseases and parasites can be transmitted to human beings through the handling of meat, consumption of raw or improperly cooked meat? Some of these diseases such as anthrax and cysticercosis can be deadly.

The temptation to select sickly animals for slaughter is also high and this can be catastrophic because the disease can be transmitted to man.

Humane slaughter of animals requires that they must be unconscious before they are bled (killed) to prevent pain, for example, through stunning. Some cultural practices go against this, but it has also been scientifically proven that meat from animals that have been slaughtered humanely is tender (better quality) than those roughed up prior to slaughter.

In Ethiopia, eating raw meat is a common cultural practice and in Kenya I know of some communities that also feed on raw meat. I watched recently on a local TV channel a hotel in Nairobi that specialises in serving a dish of raw meat.

Even under hygienic slaughter conditions, meat can still carry harmful bacteria and cooking is a way of killing these bacteria. For proper cooking, the meat should be chopped into smaller pieces. Cooking large pieces like happens when roasting does not allow heat penetration into the deeper parts where bacteria can remain undestroyed.

Undercooked meat, raw eggs and milk are main sources of salmonella to human beings. Common signs of salmonella are diarrhoea, which can be bloody, fever, abdominal cramps, vomiting and body aches. To prevent salmonella, wash your hands before handling meat and thereafter.

(Dr Othieno is a veterinary surgeon working with the Kenya Tsetse and Trypanosomiasis Eradication Council - KENTTEC)