•CONTRACTOR employees doing rehabilitation works on the Mufulira Council abattoir. The council is spending K466,000 on the project. Picture by MOFFAT CHAZINGWA

By MOFFAT CHAZINGWA –

FOR almost a decade now, residents of Mufulira district on the Copperbelt have been consuming meat products without knowing exactly, how or the state under which the animals are slaughtered.
This is because the abattoir, which is supposed serve as a recommended place for slaughtering of all animals meant for sale as meat products to the general public in the district, has not been functioning due to its dilapidated state.
As a result, animals for meat products sold around the district have had to be slaughtered from places as far as Chingola and elsewhere only known by owners of the butcheries.
This, in every certainty terms, should be a source of concern for consumers especially that meat products can pose health risk when consumed with due care to establish whether they are medically fit for consumption.
What more with the known trend by some people especially rural dwellers of slaughtering animals viewed to be unhealthy even at their point of death for the sole purpose of making a little fortune out of that?
While it is said butchery owners have been taking their animals as far as Chingola for slaughtering, it cannot be argued out-rightly that there are still some people within the farms around the district who have ignored the health and sanitation rules requiring them to take their animals to an abattoir slaughtering and ended doing that exercise behind their backyard for fear of transportation expenses.
Mufulira Municipal Council (MMC) has, however, taken steps to address these challenges by embarking on a programme for rehabilitation of the abattoir in the district at a cost of K466, 000.
So far, the contractor, Daco Dimension Ltd has done about 90 per cent of the works and is now remaining with tiling of the building and painting.
Once completed, Mufulira will become the second district on the Copperbelt with a recommended abattoir for slaughtering of animals.
At the moment, only Chingola in the province is said to have a recommended abattoir for slaughtering of animals as the facilities in other districts are in deplorable conditions.
This development has cheered scores of residents in Mufulira including those running butcheries.
“We now won’t need to transport our animals Chingola for slaughtering and let alone hire refrigeration trucks to transport meat products and this will lessen costs of running butcheries in the district,” says Davies Kangwa, a butchery owner at Kamuchanga Market in Mufulira Central.
Mr Kangwa said it has been tedious for butchery owners to hire trucks with refrigeration facilities every time when transporting meat products to the district from Chingola.
MMC assistant Public Relations Manager Melvin Mukela said the rehabilitation of the abattoir is a good development to the district because it will help with effective supervision and monitoring of state of meat products being sold to members of the public.
This will help reduce health
risks associated with meat products as animals will be have to be locally certified by a medical expert when being slaughtered to ascertain its fitness.