Mpumalanga 2018 Provincial Abattoir awards ceremony held at Nooitgedacht Research Farm

The Mpumalanga 2018 Provincial Abattoir rating scheme awards ceremony was held recently at the Nooitgedacht Research Farm.

The Provincial Abattoir Rating Scheme (PARS) contributes directly to the National Development Plan vision 2030 and Outcome 7 through improved food security and smallholder farmer development and support (technical, financial and infrastructure) for agrarian transformation.

Through regular inspections abattoirs are monitored within the Meat Safety Act standards, requirements and regulations to ensure safe meat is produced for human consumption.

Provincial abattoir awards are held on an annual basis to recognise abattoirs that contribute to the food security and safety of the province.

The key beneficiaries of the Provincial Rating Scheme includes farmers, abattoir owners, the retail industry, red meat industry, poultry industry, municipalities in Mpumalanga and general consumers.

Mpumalanga implemented the first PARS ceremony in January 2010 and this year will mark the eighth anniversary of the awards ceremony.

These awards receive the highest Departmental honor conferred by the Executive Authority and the Head of the Department.

This year’s awards are based on the 2017/2018 abattoir audits and inspections that were carried out by the department’s veterinary public health practitioners and state veterinarians.

According to Ms. Gugu Nkosi, the cooperation received from the industry was overwhelming and lead to the registration of 49 abattoirs, 13 high throughput red meat, 12 low throughput red meat, five high throughput poultry, nine low throughput poultry, two rural red meat, four rural poultry, and four-game abattoirs.

“Officials performed 507 inspections and audits and abattoirs achieved an average of 81% compliance to Meat Safety which is above the National average of 60%.” Ms Nkosi said.

Red meat and poultry abattoirs were rated on 10 and 11 categories respectively, including structure, maintenance and general conditions, transport, welfare and ante-mortem, slaughtering and processing, meat inspection and marking, chilling, portioning and packaging (poultry only), cold storage and dispatch (poultry only), chilling and dispatch (red meat only), offal processing, sanitation and pest control, personnel, waste management and hygiene management system.

There are four main categories under which the abattoirs were rated; High Throughput (HT) Red meat (Category 1), Low Throughput (LT) Red Meat (Category 2), High Throughput (HT) Poultry (Category 3) , Low Throughput (LT) Poultry (Category 4) and Rural abattoirs.

The category winner in the Red Meat High Throughput was Karan Beef from Dipalaseng in the Gert Sibande District.

The category winner in the Red Meat Low Throughput was Glen Aggy from Mkhondo (Piet Retief) in the Gert Sibande District.

Category winner in the Poultry High Throughput was Goldi Poultry from Lekwa in the Gert Sibande District.

The category winner in the Poultry Low Throughput was Venter Plaashoenders from Steve Tshwete in the Nkanagla District.

A certificate and trophy for the Best Rural Abattoir were awarded to Mhaleni Red Meat Abattoir in Bushbuckridge.

The most improved abattoir certificate and trophy was given to Venter Plaashoenders Abattoir from Steve Tshwete.

The overall winner (MEC’s award) was Venter Plaashoenders Abattoir from Steve Tshwete.

This award is given to the best abattoir in all aspects and categories, serving as a good example to all.