Food Protection Trends - January/February 2020 - 44

Although the meat sellers had not undergone formal
training in meat safety, they had been taught the art of
butchering by their leaders. The meat sellers also indicated
that they received information on meat safety from common
knowledge/experience, veterinary technicians, environmental health inspectors, and the mass media (TV and radio).
This result agrees with the report of Sulleyman et al. (31),
which indicated that 90% of the meat sellers in Accra, Ghana
had no training in safe meat handling, although according to
the Food and Agriculture Organization (18), food handlers
should have the necessary knowledge and skills to enable
them to handle food hygienically. Therefore, training in
sanitation and hygiene should be able to change personal
behavior and attitudes as well as imparting knowledge (17).
The lack of training may have resulted in the marked levels
of poor hygiene practices recorded among meat sellers.
The World Health Organization (36) has stated that food
handlers should maintain a high level of personal cleanliness,
should wear suitable protective clothing, head-gear and
footwear, and should refrain from smoking, spitting, chewing
and sneezing or coughing over unprotected food. Most of the
respondents in this study admitted that they would sell their
meat under a net (on top of a table covered with a net) if they
had financial assistance, while some revealed that wearing
gloves during work would make their hands uncomfortable
and lead to accidents at work because of the slippery nature
of gloves. This confirms the findings of Sulleyman et al. (31)
and Adzitey et al. (9).
Meat sellers' practices and enthusiasm toward hygiene
and sanitation
Practices of meat safety among the meat sellers sampled
are given in Table 3. A majority (70%) of the meat sellers
obtained meat from an abattoir for retail to consumers, and
30% perform backyard slaughtering. The majority (45%)
of meat sellers who bought meat from the abattoir did so
because they thought that it was hygienic in nature. The other
reasons were that (1) it is cheaper to purchase meat from
the abattoir (33%) and (2) the abattoir is the place approved
by the Tamale Metropolitan Assembly (22%). Sulleyman et
al. (31) also found that meat sellers in the Accra metropolis
obtained their meat mainly from the abattoir. This shows
that the meat sellers were obeying the local authorities'
instructions to obtain meat from abattoirs and reduce the
incidence of backyard slaughter. The 30% of the respondents
who obtain their meat through backyard slaughter pose a
serious health risk to consumers since veterinary officers
do not inspect meat produced there. The majority (48%) of
meat sellers sold meat on open tables, which cannot provide
protection of the meat from flies, dust, smoke from vehicles,
and other contaminants. Open tables also do not provide any
type of controlled temperature for the meat. Our findings are
similar to those of a study conducted in Accra, Ghana, that
found that meats were sold in similar circumstances (31).

Food Protection Trends January/February

With regard to cleaning, most (94%) of the respondents
said that they use soap and cold water in washing their
equipment, and 91% of them said they either washed or
scraped their chopping tables 3 or more times a day. These
practices were encouraging, since Alhaji and Baiwa (12)
reported that cleaning of equipment and surfaces was the
most common preventive hygiene practice, and that only a
few knew about the protective capacity of frequent cleaning
and sanitation of meat handling facilities. However, the meat
sellers do not disinfect their shops (100%) or sterilize their
knives and equipment (95%). The few who sterilized their
knives and equipment used hot water. The majority (96%) of
the meat sellers always washed their hands before touching
raw meat. The hands of food handlers can be vectors that
spread harmful microorganisms through cross-contamination
(14). This can occur if they ignore the importance of washing
the hands during food preparation. Some of the bacteria that
can be found on the hands of food handlers are Escherichia
coli and Staphylococcus aureus (26).
More than half (58%) of the meat sellers did not wear
an apron during work. In addition, most (94%) did not
wear gloves during work, with a few (25%) admitting to
smoking at the workplace. Similar observations were made by
Sulleyman et al. (33). A minority (39%) of the meat sellers
interviewed appeared clean, with the majority (61%) being
dirty. Being "clean" means that less than a quarter of the
sellers' clothes were covered by only fresh meat particles/
blood splashes, while being "dirty" means that half of the
sellers' clothes were covered with either fresh or old meat
particles/blood splashes. Leftover meats were stored in a
refrigerator. Similarly, Adzitey et al. (7) found that butchers
stored their leftover meats in a refrigerator (83.8%), or
preserved it by drying (10%), smoking (2.5%) and other
methods (3.7%).
The enthusiasm of the meat sellers toward meat safety is
shown in Table 4. The meat sellers were keen to sell meat
from an enclosed net (46%), highly motivated to always wash
their hands, tables, knives and other equipment (41%), much
enthused about wearing clean clothing when selling meat
(36%), and moderately enthused about using aprons (44%).
Furthermore, they were slightly enthused about use of gloves
(39%), moderately enthused about being trained in meat
safety (30%), much enthused about always checking the
temperature of their refrigerators (40%) and not enthused
about adhering to food safety rules and regulations (37%).
The enthusiasm of the meat sellers demonstrates their
eagerness to accept and to adopt changes needed to ensure
meat safety.
CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS
Meat sellers had satisfactory knowledge mainly on whether
meat can be contaminated by poor handling and were
aware that contaminated meat can cause illness. Although
most of the meat sellers had basic understanding about

Food Protection Trends - January/February 2020

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