Douala public advised to crosscheck beef before buying

Livestock authorities in Wouri Division of the Littoral Region have warned members of the public to beware of the clandestine slaughtering of poultry, sheep and cattle. In order to be on the safe side, they have asked meat consumers to always verify if it has the SODEPA stamp before buying.

The Wouri Divisional Delegate for Livestock, Fisheries and Animal Industries, Mimbang Guy Iréné, made the call following the persistence of the practice. His office has carried out several raids during which meat from clandestine slaughtering houses has been impounded and destroyed.

Some of the seized meat was found to be infected after veterinary tests. The Delegate says it is either the live animals were infected or the conditions of slaughtering contaminated the meat, thus rendering it unfit for consumption.

He stressed that infected animals have zoonosis that may be transmitted to consumers, and it is dangerous to health. “Clandestine abattoirs create unease among Muslims who only allow the halal slaughtering of cattle, sheep and poultry. This involves having their throats slit and the blood drained because the animal is ‘humane,’” Mimbang Guy Iréné explained.

Besides, most Muslims in the New Bell neighbourhood of Douala hold that the sickening abuse compromises their range of edible meat. It is for this reason that the public is advised to buy meat only from recognised butchers whose beef bears the stamp ‘SODEPA.’ Illegal slaughtering, the Delegate warned, is liable to prosecution because the practice is connected to the intention to sell unapproved beef to the public.

The single abattoir in Douala slaughters 600,000 cattle a month, an average of 200 animals a day; excluding 10 donkeys slaughtered each week since 2015.

In 2014, some 73,322 cows, 9,472 sheep, 75,075 goats, 22,258 pigs and 1.2 million chicken, were slaughtered by the SODEPA Abattoir and municipal slaughter houses in Douala. Besides the regular inspection of animals to be slaughtered and those slaughtered in the single abattoir run by SODEPA in Bonendale on the outskirts of the city, the abattoir also sends veterinary inspectors to smaller slaughter houses managed by municipal councils.

These councils run poultry, goat and sheep slaughter spots in the New Bell, Grand Hangar and Bonaberi Markets, as well as a pig slaughtering slab in Ndokotti. The inspectors do disease diagnosis such as inspection before and after slaughter. If ante mortem inspection shows some disease presence, the animal is treated and allowed until the drugs in it finish before it can be slaughtered. If ante mortem shows no infection but after the slaughtering the internal parts show some infection, the animal is immediately destroyed.