THE amount of ‘unstamped’ meat entering the various municipal markets is becoming worrisome to the Mayor and City Council (M&CC). Consequently, the Council is calling on vendors to ensure that every animal is taken to the abattoir for inspection before it is sold.

Chief Meat and Food Inspector, Onica Alleyne-Blackman, told reporters on Thursday that more and more persons are opting to take their meats straight to the market without having them approved by the authorities.

“In actuality, that is in direct contravention of the market by-laws because the by-laws provide for any person bringing meats to town for sale must ensure that the meats are certified by the meat and food inspector and so marked and stamped by the medical officer of health,” Alleyne-Blackman noted.

When persons continue to evade this system, she said, it means the meats in the markets are not inspected or examined in the outlying regions.
But the problem with that is the meat has to be transported to town and during that time, it can become contaminated, so it needs to be re-examined when it gets into Georgetown, to ensure it still has the safety qualities before it gets into the market, she explained.

Blue Stamp
Alleyne-Blackman said the M&CC is appealing to persons to desist from taking unstamped meats to the market and urged customers to look for evidence that the meat was inspected and stamped, usually with blue ink.
“Seeing that blue stamp is your evidence that the meat was inspected and approved as wholesome.”

According to her, the purpose of inspecting the animals at the abattoir is to ensure that meats are wholesome for consumption. “When we do inspections, we are not just cutting because we want to cut, but we are looking for certain conditions. It is called a post-mortem examination. We are looking for any diseases, broken bones, abscesses, or any other conditions where the meat must be partially condemned.”

“If the animals are slaughtered directly at the abattoir, the fee is $1,200 per animal and if (they) need to be re-inspected, the cost is $800. “But this is a minimal fee in comparison to what they (vendors) get after selling the entire animal,” Public Relations Officer at M&CC Debra Lewis explained.

Meanwhile, in June this year the municipal abattoir in Georgetown will be 85-years-old but with hardly any maintenance being done to the building, work is being impeded.

Alleyne-Blackman told Guyana Chronicle last week that some external funding to do the improvements would be welcomed, especially as the M&CC is financially-strapped.
The system at the abattoir is basically manual at the moment, and Alleyne-Blackman is hoping that it can be upgraded with better facilities such as an improved water supply and a pig dehairer machine.
“We would like to see something done about the current structure. It would be nice if we can get some outside funding because City Council might not be able to stand the expenses of what is required now,” she pointed out.

Slaughtering and meat inspection exercises are done on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to ensure wholesome meats are distributed to the various markets for consumption. About 30 to 40 animals are slaughtered at the facility every day.
Two stun guns are also in use now for stunning animals prior to slaughter but the abattoir had been without such devices for quite some time.