KCCA closes 140 butcheries
Customer. A woman buys meat at one of the butcheries in Kampala recently. FILE PHOTO
What you need to know:
- Crackdown. The authorities also impounded and destroyed 157kgs of meat destroyed during the recent crackdown on alleged misuse of chemicals by some butchers.
Kampala. At least 149 butcheries in Kampala city were closed and 157kgs of meat destroyed during the recent crackdown by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) on alleged misuse of chemicals by some butchers.
In a telephone interview with Saturday Monitor yesterday, Mr Peter Kaujju, the KCCA spokesperson, said: “We closed butcheries in Ntinda, Bwaise, Kaleerwe and Kampala central. The inspection [exercise] is still ongoing and whoever is found operating below the minimum requirements will have his butchery closed,” Kujju said.
The crackdown
A press statement read by Kampala State minister Benny Namugwanya Bugembe at the Uganda Media Centre in Kampala yesterday indicated that the city authorities’ crackdown last week shut down five supermarkets that were found operating below the minimum standards.
She said the operation had also impounded 29 half-litre bottles of a local chemical trading under the name ‘Tsunami’.
The minister warned that the inspection and awareness raising is on-going and more people would be apprehended for the use of illegal chemicals.
“During the exercise, we discovered that some butcheries in parts of the city were using chemicals allegedly to preserve meat and fish, as well as a concoction to kill flies. This is illegal and against best food handling practice as stipulated by the Kampala City Council (meat) ordinance (2006), Kampala City Council Fish Ordinance(2006) and Public Health Act CAP 281,” Ms Namugwanya said.
She added: “We destroyed the meat because it had been found contaminated with chemicals.”
“The persons involved in this illegal practice have been apprehended and produced in court, convicted and sentenced. Out of the suspects held, six were sentenced to eight months in prison, two were fined Shs100,000 and one was released on court bail,” she added.
The clampdown follows public outcry that some butcheries, in a bid to prolong the shelf life of beef, were spraying the meat with formalin, a chemical used for preserving corpses.
Ms Namugwanya advised the public to be keen on where they buy meat in order to avoid buying contaminated meat.
“When going to any butchery, make sure there are no houseflies on the meat because this is a sign of contamination, the place should be extra clean,” she said.
Warning
The KCCA acting director of public health and environment, Mr Daniel Okello Oyen, said butcheries found operating below the minimum standards would be closed. “At least each butchery needs to be tiled, have glass to avoid the flies, free flowing clean water, white apron and above all, a refrigerator for preserving the meat. Only a refrigerator is recommended for preservation and those found without shall be closed down,” he said.
