AGRICULTURE Minister, Dr. Leslie Ramsammy has announced that his ministry will be upgrading slaughter houses around the country.

During a recent interview with the State media, he said: “What we want to do is a quick upgrading of the existing slaughter houses, so that we could ensure that the meat that comes out of these slaughter houses meets the health standards.”
He had indicated, last year, that the ministry was planning to establish a state-of-the-art internationally standardised abattoir which he had said would cost some $3M.
However, he previously told the Guyana Chronicle that the ministry was reviewing its options, with regards to building the modern facility, due to escalating costs.
Ramsammy said a start will be made by first enhancing the Georgetown abattoir, so that there could be some more immediate improvement in the slaughtering of animals, presently done almost exclusively there.
He said other slaughter houses countrywide are also being monitored.
“We’re going to upgrade those in all of the regions first and then we will do the international standard abattoir,” the minister stated.
He said the international standard one will address the issue of export but he believes one single benchmark should be established, with the quality of meat for local consumption being no different from that which is exported.
When the plans for the modern abattoir were made known, Ramsammy had posited that, if Guyana is to progress successfully in the expansion of its poultry and livestock exportation, a well established abattoir is necessary.
He had also mentioned that Guyana has a plus in acquiring markets readily, since the country is certified as free of ‘Foot and Mouth’ disease.