Buying safe meat

Heather Little-White, PhD, Contributor

The recent reports of animals being raised on landfills and slaughtered for human consumption brings into sharp focus the safety of meats sold to consumers. It is important that consumers know where to buy safe meat. Acceptable places for buying safe meats include the meat shop or butchery which is inspected and approved by the Public Health Department. The meat shop may be the meat section of your supermarket.

When approved by the Public Health Department that means that the meat comes from the abattoir where conditions are right for the slaughter of the animal. With Public Health Department approval, the carcass should carry a stamp on each quarter. Stamping is done by meat inspectors who are trained in the field. This means that the meat is clean, pleasing to the eye and free from disease.

Unsafe meat

Meat is considered unsafe for human consumption when:

The animals from which the meat is derived are raised in places with waste material which serve as fodder.

Meat of animals is slaughtered in unacceptable places or in the open.

Meat comes from sick animals that may be suffering from brucellosis, tuberculosis or carrying tapeworms.

Meat is handled with dirty hands or utensils or sold in place filled with germs.

Animals are killed by amateurs for informal gatherings where food-safety conditions may be compromised and no inspectors are available to inspect the meat.

The process of slaughtering meats at the abattoirs should guarantee that, as consumers, you get meat fit for human consumption. When animals arrive at the abattoirs, they are inspected to make sure that they are healthy. If the animals show signs of ill health, they will not be slaughtered. If the animals travelled a long journey they are given time to rest before they are slaughtered. When animals are tired they do not bleed well.

Proper bleeding

Slaughtering takes place in such a way that it causes little pain to the animals and that they bleed properly, leaving little blood in the meat so it can stay fresh longer. After slaughtering and the animals are bled, the skin and intestines are removed. This is followed by an inspection of the carcass and offal after which the stamp is applied to the carcass. If the meat is found to be unsafe, it is destroyed. The meat inspector also checks the sanitary state of the abattoir. Soon after slaughtering, the meat is placed in a refrigerator to prevent the increase of any germs and to keep it fresh.

If you buy contaminated meat for consumption, you increase the risk that persons who eat the meat may get sick, as contamination can spread to hands, tables, utensils and other foods and places in the kitchen. Even when the meat is cooked, the germs are killed but poison is left in the meat.

Contamination

Food-borne illnesses can be caused by food contaminated by bacteria, viruses, parasites and household chemicals. Meats and other foods of animal origin - raw meat, poultry, fish and unpasteurised milk, are the most common sources of bacteria. These foods are moist and, with warm temperatures and time, the right conditions are present for bacteria to survive and multiply. The ideal temperature for bacterial growth is 40 to 140F.

The main troublemakers for bacterial food contamination include salmonella - from raw or undercooked meat, poultry and fish and unpasteurised milk; clostridium perfringens present everywhere, clostridium botulinum from home-canned meats and vegetables; Escherichia, a common bacteria that exists in the intestinal tracts and listeria monocytogenes found in raw meat, poultry and seafood. Parasites like trichinella spiralis, can lead to trichinosis contracted from eating undercooked pork or game infested with the trichina larvae. Viruses like hepatitis A act like parasites.

The bottom line is that, when purchasing meats, it is good to know the source of the meat and under what conditions the animals are raised and slaughtered. If you are suspicious about meat sources, call the Public Health Department in your parish.

send feedback/questions to: heatherl@cwjamaica.com.