By KASONDE KASONDE –

KABWE Municipal Council acting public health inspector Victor Kagoli has disclosed that most of the meat being consumed in the district does not meet the hygienic standard.
Mr Kagoli said in order for the health inspectors to determine whether the meat was safe, there are three stages of examination the meat has to undergo which does not happen in the district due to a number of challenges.
It was difficult for the officers to carry out the inspections as they did not know where the animals are slaughtered from and sometimes the meat is sold on the open market.
“Before the meat is taken to the butcheries or other selling points, it has to go through three stages of inspection firstly the animal has to be examined whether it is fit for consumption and after it is slaughtered more tests have to be carried out and even at selling points,” Mr Kagoli said.
The health inspectors at the council were unable to inspect the animals before they are slaughtered as the officers do not know where the animals are slaughtered from hence the danger to the public consuming the meat.
Currently, the council only inspected meat in butcheries, which is not effective since the meat would have already been processed which enhances the need for the Council abattoir to be rehabilitated and to ensure that all the animals are examined before slaughter.
In August this year during a full council meeting, it was revealed that more than 80 per cent of the meat sold in butcheries in Kabwe was not certified because the council had no capacity to inspect all the slaughter points.
Meanwhile, Kabwe Town Clerk Oliver Muuka said the Municipality needs about K1 million to rehabilitate and reconstruct the old abattoir.
The abattoir has been in a dilapidated state for a long time and there was need to redo it if it is to be operational.
He said the council at the moment did not have the money to rehabilitate the abattoir and has since engaged the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock to fund part of the process.
“As a council, we do not have an abattoir so we have no control over the slaughtering and selling of meat to the public, when our abattoir was up and running everyone used to pass through our abattoir before they could go out there and sell their meat,” Mr Muuka said.