 Hello and welcome to interview. I am Fenel Neptune. In today's program, we will discuss livestock butchering and the meat inspection process. And with me to discuss this topic is Senior Environmental Health Officer for Food Safety, Eunice Pierre, and also Senior Agricultural Officer, Columbus, Philippines. Welcome to the program. Thank you very much. When it comes to butchering of animals and the selling of meat, there is a process. Can you tell us what is the role of the Ministry of Agriculture and also the Environmental Health Division in this process? The role of the Ministry of Agriculture is to ensure that all animals destined for slaughter receive an anti-mortem inspection. At that anti-mortem inspection, animals are passed or restricted from slaughter. Hence, you have a safe animal that is destined for slaughter and you end up with a safer meat for consumption. Basically, the role of the Ministry of Health is to ensure that meat that is destined for sale is fit for human consumption, that that meat is wholesome, that it is free from disease and that it is also handled and sold under sanitary conditions. Wonderful. And of course, the first part of the process is the anti-mortem inspection, which is conducted by Ministry of Agriculture. Can you tell us a little more about this process? This process entails physical examination of the animal, both at rest and in motion. We look for abnormalities in the breathing, that's respiration, in the structure and conformity of the animal, abnormalities in the odor of the animal and animals supposed to smell like a cow in other words. Abnormalities in the gait, that's how they walk, in posture, how they stand, and that's what we look for. And whenever these abnormalities are detected, then those animals are bad from entering the slaughterhouse. Okay, so if it's a situation where the animal doesn't seem fit for slaughter, then they would not be allowed to? They would not be allowed to enter a slaughterhouse or they'll deem unfit for slaughter and they'll be dealt with accordingly. For example, they might be retained and then treated if the disease or the conditions require treatment. Okay, and what is the time frame for this anti-mortem inspection? An anti-mortem inspection should take place within 24 hours before slaughter and if 24 hours have expired and that slaughter doesn't take place, then another anti-mortem has to be performed again. So in essence, it's valid for only 24 hours. Okay, so then it must be done within the 24 hours. Okay, so it means that if it's not done within the 24 hours, then it means that they would have to wait until it's done. Again, yeah, so another request is put, then another anti-mortem inspection is done and you clear to slaughter again. Okay, and we will touch a little bit more about the, in terms of the butcher and what is required, but I wanted Mr. Pierre to tell us a little more about the meat inspection process. What is the purpose of this inspection after the whole anti-mortem inspection? In keeping with the slaughterhouse regulation and the Public Health Act, the Ministry has a responsibility, Ministry of Health has a responsibility to ensure that meat that is being sold to the public is in fact wholesome. Coming out of that process which Mr. Philippi has outlined, once an animal has passed an anti-mortem and that animal proceed to slaughter, that animal of course is tagged as well and we will start with the documents. As part of that inspection process, that document that comes from the anti-mortem and Mr. Philippi will elaborate a little more on this, that animal will be tagged and the tag that the animal has would correspond to the documentation that is given. So we will first need to ensure that this animal has gotten an anti-mortem inspection before proceeding to do that post-mortem inspection. And the reason being, as Mr. Philippi has outlined, there are diseases that perhaps you can pick up at anti-mortem that you may not see within a post-mortem inspection. So it therefore means that this animal has been cleared from the anti-mortem and the post-mortem inspection will follow a systematic approach where the officer will go through more or less the lymphatic system of that animal going through all the lymph nodes, going through all the organs and organ systems. They are looking for both physiological and pathological conditions that can render that cacus or the meat rather unfit for consumption. You could have abscesses, you could have parasitic infection. Sometimes even in the absence of disease, as the veterinary division will tell you, we don't have a lot of serious disease here in our animal stock. But sometimes because of the way, and that's why Mr. Philippi has indicated as well, that the anti-mortem needs to take place within 24 hours because that animal needs to be rested properly. And in the absence of that kind of rest, you find you could have excessive blood congestion, you could have other conditions such as aspiration pneumonia that can render the organs like the lungs unfit where you have the feces passing back through it because the animal was either improperly stunned. And when you speak about stunning, we are speaking about techniques that is used to put that animal more or less unconscious. So all of those things are very important. And that is why it is important that the public as well they ensure that the meat that they are purchasing has in fact undergo inspection to ensure that it is fit for human consumption. So I guess that's why it's important that they do it 24 hours before so that way they know for sure the animal is actually fit. The 24 hours window is basically a buffer. So let's say you do the inspection 24 hours before and then that period, that's why if that period has elapsed and you have not conducted that stuttering process, you have to redo the anti-mortem inspection again because 24 hours in the life of an animal is a long time. So anything can manifest itself within that 24 hours. So once that 24 hours has elapsed, then it's mandatory that you do another anti-mortem inspection because anything can manifest itself after that. Okay, great. Well, we are due for a break so we'll be back in a moment. Thank you. We'll be back in a moment. This survey will start from November 2019 and will end in February 2020. If you are selected to participate, a team from the Ministry of Health and the Central Statistics Department will visit your home. You will be asked to answer some questions on your health status and health habits and a nurse will test your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. The nurse will also collect some urine to test how well your kidneys work. Your participation will make the difference in improving how chronic conditions are managed in our country. And engage in the change to reverse chronic illnesses. Participate. Welcome back. We are here with Ernie Pierre and Columbus Philippe discussing livestock butchering and meat inspection process. Before we took the break, we were talking in terms of the anti-mortem inspection and we spoke about, briefly Mr. Ernie Pierre also spoke about what are some of the things they look out for when they do the meat inspection. And you mentioned in terms of the lungs and everything else. Can you elaborate a little bit more in terms of what judgment is being made to determine that a certain part of this animal is not fit for consumption? Basically, judgment in terms of meat inspection can be of two types. It can be localized. It can be in terms of disease. You can have disease conditions that are localized. In that instance, you would have partial condemnation. For example, if it is the organ that is found, the liver is found to be bad, that liver can be condemned. If you find a portion of the animal that perhaps has an abscess or excessive bruising, that portion can be condemned. There are conditions as well that are generalized. And generalized conditions, you will have to condemn the entire animal. So if there are no disease conditions, likewise, that animal is passed as fit for human consumption. And once that animal has been passed, or the cacus, rather, is passed or has been fit for human consumption, it is stamped with do-carry stamps, inspector's carry stamp. They will stamp it in a number of places in conspicuous areas where the purchase in public can see. Also, a wholesomeness certificate is in fact issued should that meet be chopped where the person who is making the purchase cannot see that stamp, they can in fact request is there a wholesomeness certificate? There will be a wholesomeness certificate that is issued at all times once that animal has been inspected and passed. So there are localized conditions. It could be parasitic infection and so on, confining itself to a certain organ. And that organ can be condemned. Great. And you mentioned a little bit about the process of the meat inspection. But before I allow you to keep us a little more information about the meat inspection process, I would like Mr. Philippe to tell us what are the requirements, what documents would the butcher require? Before an anti-mortem inspection is carried, the butcher will have to contact the Environmental Health Department to get a license to operate a slaughterhouse. Permit to operate a slaughterhouse. Plus, they will need a butcher's license which is issued by the police. So these are two very important documents that the Veterinary Department will require of the butcher in order to conduct the anti-mortem inspection. Okay, and I guess with those documents, that's what we come in now with the environment coming on site. So can you tell us a little more about the process and what are those documents that you would be looking out for? Okay, basically, when a butcher decides to slaughter, they would visit our offices in Badawange or Souffre of Euphot to make a declaration that they are going to slaughter. The butcher and helpers or persons that will be taken part in that slaughtering process will have to have health certificates. It is a requirement by law that they have those health certificates. Once those health certificates are in place, the inspectors also will inspect the area where that slaughter facility is, where they will be doing the butchering. For now, we would ask that at least they have portable running water. They have a slaughter slab. They have a superstructure. Even if it's not a full-fledged abattoir, but they have a place where that operation can be carried out under sanitary conditions. Once that is done, they would in fact pay a fee, which they would be issued a receipt. That receipt, as Mr. Philippi mentioned, they would also have to make a declaration with the police. Upon getting that receipt, they would bring it to the police to see that they have had approval and clearance from help. They would make a declaration to the police to see what animals they have, where they obtain it, the receipts of purchase, for pre-Dial as any reasons, and the police would issue what is the butcher's license. That would coincide and that flow of process would go right into the anti-mortem inspection, as Mr. Philippi has mentioned. Wonderful. And we're almost out of time. If you could tell us quickly, what message would you like to send out to St. Lucian's? Basically, St. Lucian's need to ensure that when they are purchasing products, meat products, as we have mentioned, that it is inspected, that they can see the stamp. And if the stamp is not there and they still want to inquire, they should ask of the butcher for the certificate of wholesomeness to ensure that the products are in fact wholesome that they are purchasing. Thank you so much. Well, we have come to the end of our discussion for today. I want to thank you so much for being part of our program. It was definitely a pleasure having you here. Thank you. I want to thank you so much once again. I am Fenel Neptune on behalf of the entire team. Thank you for watching. Until next time.