Food Protection Trends - July/August 2020 - 249

Though the presence of rats and stray dogs within the
slaughterhouse premises were reported by few respondents,
such presence is common in most slaughterhouses in developing countries (11). The presence of these roaming animals in slaughterhouses could promote meat contamination
and spread of meat-borne and occupational diseases among
workers (7). Although most respondents (98.9%) reported
separating clean from dirty operations while working in the
slaughterhouses, the possibility of meat contamination and
the spread of zoonotic pathogens is very likely, as slaughter
and carcass processing are usually done on the floor (17).
The use of PPE is important in protecting meat from contamination during processing and in protecting meat handlers from zoonotic diseases during work. However, only
32.6% of respondents reported regular usage of PPE, with
workers demonstrating poor personal hygiene. Comparably, only half of workers in a Kenyan slaughterhouse were
reported to use PPE (11). Non-use of PPE during slaughter
operations is common in most abattoirs in Nigeria (30).
This explains why the majority (96.6%) of the slaughterhouse workers reported habitual use of personal garments
during work or slaughterhouse operations. Some of these
respondents rarely wash these personal working clothes,
as it has been reported in a previous study (28), although
work clothes should be washed after each day of a slaughter
operation (28). In an earlier study, slaughterhouse workers
demonstrated poor personal hygiene, and such practices
facilitate food contamination and spread of foodborne
diseases (1, 8, 30).
Most meat-borne and occupational diseases could be
detected early by an antemortem. Animals destined for
slaughter should be rested for at least 24 hours. However,
the majority of the respondents reported non-adherence to
this rule. Similarly, meat inspection procedures are inadequate, especially at antemortem, in most poorly resourced
African countries (11, 14, 23, 34) Antemortem inspection
could be carried out adequately on animals that have been
rested in the lairage for 24 hours.
Although, the majority of the respondents (> 70%) were
aware that slaughterhouse workers can get diseases from animals, from the slaughterhouse environment and from meat,
the effect of this awareness was not seen in the practice of
hygiene and work-related ergonomics. In another study,
most slaughterhouse workers had unsatisfactory knowledge
levels of zoonoses, predisposing them to associated health
risks (2, 3). However, low knowledge of zoonoses was
found in only 31% of workers in Kenyan slaughterhouses
(11), and in Romania, meat handlers were found to possess

good knowledge levels with regard to food safety and
personal hygiene practices (21), in contrast to the unsatisfactory knowledge level demonstrated by respondents to
our survey. About 78% of respondents had unsatisfactory
knowledge levels on personal hygiene, sanitation, and causes and spread of foodborne pathogens in the slaughterhouses in the town of Jigjiga, in Ethiopia (33).
Significant associations exist between gender and PPE
usage and knowledge of food safety risk in the slaughterhouse in relation to work injuries. Female slaughterhouse
workers were only one-third as likely as male workers to
have a satisfactory knowledge level of food safety risk in
relation to work injuries. Slaughterhouse workers reporting
usage of PPE while working were nine times more likely to
have a satisfactory knowledge level of food safety risk in the
slaughterhouse in relation to work injuries than non-PPE
users. These results further emphasize that in the event of
any intervention, female workers and non-PPE users should
be targeted.
The major limitation associated with this study is the use
of a questionnaire for this research. However, we pretested the questionnaire to ensure a record of high-quality
information from respondents. Also, we cannot confirm the
information supplied by the respondents. Hence to mitigate
this risk, we employed trained questionnaire administrators, and certain questions were asked in different sections
of the test to confirm previously supplied responses and
discard discrepancies (31).
In conclusion, slaughterhouse workers in the Ilorin
metropolis have low risk perception of occupational health
and food safety issues. These important findings provide
an empirical basis for stimulating establishment of policies and interventions to mitigate occupational health and
food safety risks in Nigerian slaughterhouses. Education of
slaughterhouse workers on proper sanitation and hygienic
practices in the slaughterhouses should be emphasized. The
training of slaughterhouse workers on safety and health
practices and occupational hazards is imperative.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We appreciate the enumerators for their time and effort.
We also acknowledge our respondents as well as the
butchers' associations in the slaughterhouses sampled for
agreeing to participate in this study.
DISCLOSURE STATEMENT
We declare no conflict of interest.

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