Abu Dhabi gets strict on slaughter
house regulations


02 May 2010
ABU DHABI — Officials of the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority stressed on the pre-slaughter medical check up for animals and the stringent safety measures to prevent livestock from contagious diseases.

A number of presentations were delivered by experts including on diseases that human beings can contract from animals at a seminar organised by the Animal and Plant Health Division of the ADFCA at Royal Meridien hotel in the Capital.

The officials recommended the implementation of world class safety standards in all slaughter houses in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, numbering and registration of animals in a way that facilitates tracing the origin of contagious diseases and the stern enforcement of the rules not to butcher animals in places others than the designated slaughterhouses in the emirate.

Ahmed Kulaib Al Tunaiji, executive director of Animal and Plant Health at ADFCA stressed on the importance of veterinary examinations of animals before and after slaughter and termed it as essential to ensure they are fit for human consumption.

“The safety aspect of slaughter houses in the Arab world is not just a public health issue, but also one that has religious and cultural implications,” Al Tunaiji pointed out while delivering the opening remarks at the seminar.

They all stressed the fact that utmost care in matters of hygiene and food safety in slaughter houses would go a long way in ensuring public health in the emirate including the well being of the workers in the slaughterhouses themselves. The speakers at the seminar emphasised on the need for informing the owners and workers of the 48 animal breeding farms in the emirate of Abu Dhabi on the critical importance of taking the community
into confidence.

Illustrated presentations were made by experts about the differences between slaughterhouses in the emirate in the past and at present, testifying the role of ADFCA in this regard.

Speakers at the event included Dr Mutasim Abdul Noor and Mohamed Al Fatih Hamad of ADFCA’s animal and plant health section, Dr Husain Ilmi from Abu Dhabi Municipality, Helen Nicks of the Health Authority of Abu Dhabi and Dr Musthafa Omar of Abu Dhabi Modern Poultry Farm.
Sheep shipment destroyed

The Ministry of Environment and Water has destroyed a shipment of 203 heads of sheep found infected with plague of small ruminants, foot-and-mouth disease, and Brosella.

Abdullah Al Janan, Director of Veterinary Quarantine, said blood tests have shown that 35 heads were infected with foot- and - mouth disease, 60 with plague of small ruminants and 73 with Brosella.

“The Ministry is seeking to implement its strategy on biosecurity by implementing health standards on imports through land, sea and air ports,” he added.

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