|
The price of meat has long
become very prohibitive. In the last few years, it has more than quadrupled and
is nowadays selling at more than 80 Br per kilo not considering the most recent
addition of the 15pc VAT applied at some popular butcheries. Many people find
the price tag unbecoming for a country which is second to none when it comes to
meat markets. Butchers try to put the blame both on the cattle dealers and the
service-giving enterprises, the abattoirs.
For a casual observer,
however, the slaughterhouses are, more often than not, camouflages used to give
their illicit trade the cover of pretext. The slaying of cattle or herds of
sheep and goats in backyards (especially during holidays and special occasions)
is the rule rather than the exception.
The fact is that we live in a
society where the consumption of meat, sliced and rare, is a matter of pride and
prestige and taken as a symbol of manhood. As this is the case, one should not
be surprised if some people take the law into their own hands and slay cattle
wherever they find it convenient or at anytime they feel like doing it.
To be honest with my readers,
eating meat – rare – was one of the traits that I had missed most during my stay
in Brussels. In fact, I had hinted that I would be writing about it one of these
days.
After having observed all the
precautions taken in handling and preparing meat for sale, I thought it would be
a duty on my part (as a columnist) to go to the cattle market, the
slaughterhouses and the butcheries and portray their scenes.
I beg my readers to bear with
me as I was forced to write in two parts. The first part focuses on the cattle
market and the services rendered at the slaughter houses. The second part,
revealed next week, attempts to describe what goes on inside a meat eatery
including some of the characters therein.
My first visit took me to the
Addis Abeba Abattoir Enterprise down at Kirkos Kebele where Anbessa City Bus No.
6 concludes its trip. A few decades ago, this locality was considered to be the
suburb at the southern tip of the capital covered by a den of sorts.
The Amharic word Kera bears
the connotation of a site where cattle or herds are slain en masse. The present
site of the first modern abattoir is commonly referred to as Addisu Kera
(meaning new abattoir). This connotes that there was a slaughterhouse preceding
the present one. The previous one was located at a place close to the old
palace.
The present site was
established, 53 years ago (1949 Ethiopian Calander), with the objective of
establishing the institution as far away as possible from the flourishing
capital. The intention was to be rid of the foul smell, the canine population
not to mention the flocking of scavenger birds.
As time went by, the city
expanded in every geographical direction thus swallowing the once peripheral
sites and making them epicenters. In fact, until very recently there were
mountains of debris, bones and rotten residuals left to produce a most provoking
smell that evidently polluted the air.
The boiling substance inside
the compound was also a disgusting state of affair. It might well be remembered
that about four decades ago, an engineer named Girma Alemu had invented and put
into use a device to absorb the smelling vapour thereby containing it.
The stench from the mountains
of debris would vary due to the reaction that takes place under the vagaries of
varying weather. Although the problem has bean curbed by removing the debris and
installing new machines, the decree to move the abattoir to a new site still
holds.
Negussie Taddesse, commercial
department head, was assigned by Damtew Abebe, general manager of the enterprise
for the interview as he had other urgent matters to handle. I could not have
received a person who was more affable and better versed with the business.
The enterprise, is not only a
service-giving and government-tax-collecting enterprise. It also handles the
slaughtering of herds of sheep and sells mutton, according to Negussie. Owners
of butcheries and other organizations that purchase livestock bring them under
the custody of the enterprise against a payment of a little more than 120 Br per
animal including the delivery charge.
The abattoir slays about 800
to 900 livestock per day during normal periods. This number increases to over
one thousand during Easter or similar holidays. The total number of staff is
about 800 including offline services but increases during peak periods.
I asked Negussie to tell me if
the economic downturn which was followed by the increase in price has affected
the volume of the business. He responded that the service has shown a slight
growth in recent times. He feels that this is due largely to the growing
intensity of the control of illicit cattle trading along the borders of the
country, illegal slaughtering in and around the capital, and of the new the
condominium lifestyle.
The enterprise collects the
hides and skins of the livestock slain and then sells it to the tanneries at an
auction on behalf of the owners.
I had also paid a visit to the
Kara Alo Abattoir S.C., 15 kilometres east of the capital. The slaughterhouse
was first established by the Ministry of Agriculture with the help of
international organizations like FAO. Later on, private owners founded a share
company with the aim of enabling standardized and efficient services.
Yirefu Gabre is a middle-aged
veterinarian who has been in the field for over 34 years working in government
services all over the country. He is now the chief administrator and head of the
administration department of the share company and has been working for the last
12 years in the same position.
After I was given a verbal
briefing by Yirefu Gabre, I was shown around the various sectors of the abattoir
still under progress.
There are eight fenced pens
for the livestock to stay for a period of at least eight hours during which time
the livestock get some rest after their long journey. Several inspections and
thorough physical examinations are conducted by the veterinarians. Should the
animals exhibit the slightest sign of malaise, they are marked and kept apart
for further examination and diagnosis. Organs like the kidneys, liver, heart and
pancreas are tested to certify the meat as edible or eliminate it if not.
The abattoir has a designed
capacity for the slaughtering of about 900 cattle if they are the zebu breed but
only 600 if they are hybrids or crossbreeds.
Animals are given identity
numbers on their skin and led through a narrow protracted barrier to the slaying
spot where they are first rendered unconscious (by stabbing the major arteries
in their necks). They are then lifted up by an electronically operated hook thus
exposing them to the sharp cutting knives. The head is cut off while the
dripping blood is drained by only one person.
The hanging hooks serve as
conveyances that move the animal from one expert to the next for the
disassembling of organs. The main parts include Shint, Saligegne, Nikil and Hod
Ika (stomach). The meat is then stocked in the delivery van.
My next article will follow up
from here. |
