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Contact:
Julita Peter
Thursday, December 04, 2003 - The Environmental Health Department of the
Ministry of Health, is appealing to butchers to operate within the guidelines
set up by the department. According to Parker Ragnanan, environmental health
officer and manager of the ministry’s food safety program, consumers have a
responsibility to ensure that they pay attention to the meats that are being
sold especially during this time of year. He says consumers should refrain from
purchasing local meats that do not carry an approved stamp from the
environmental health department.
“St. Lucia does not have an abattoir and as a result, a lot of unregulated
road-side slaughtering of animals take place. During Christmas time, people who
throughout the year generally do not kill animals would at Christmas time kill a
cow, or a pig and oftentimes offer the meat for sale. Therefore we want to
appeal to the butchers, especially the non-regular butchers, to come to the
department and to register with the department so that we can ensure that the
areas used for slaughtering meet basic requirements as well as ensuring that the
meats are fit for human consumption,” Ragnanan added.
The environmental health department will be deploying inspectors to the various
slaughtering sites. The department has moved away from the traditional 24-hour
surveillance and instead is urging that animals be slaughtered between the hours
of 6:00am and 6:00 pm. Ragnanan says this time frame is necessary, as
slaughtering sometimes takes place in areas that are poorly lit. Persons
interested in slaughtering animals during the festive season, should obtain a
schedule from the department that will provide information on the areas for
inspection.
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