MANILA, Philippines - The National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) has turned over to the local government of Capiz a P10-million AA-rated slaughterhouse for hogs and cattle.
The slaughterhouse located in Brgy. Pantalan in the municipality of President Roxas was completed last October but the turnover was postponed to this month after Super Typhoon Yolanda damaged several parts of the abattoir.
The slaughterhouse meant for producing meat cuts for domestic consumption houses a main cutting floor and a holding pen for animals.
The Department of Agriculture (DA) has pipelined the construction of several slaughterhouses for both livestock and poultry in key animal raising areas to balance out the supply of meat products in the provinces and prevent price spikes in locales that are far from processing areas.
New slaughterhouses would also give animal raisers the means to add value to livestock and poultry through processing, making them less reliant on middlemen for market access outside their municipalities.
DA is encouraging the country’s livestock raisers to conform to the Good Animal Husbandry Practices (GAHPS) to produce safe and quality meat products especially now when the livestock and poultry sector needs to become competitive in time for economic integration within the ASEAN region by 2015.
Slaughterhouses are classified into three kinds: A-rated, AA-rated and AAA-rated.
AAA slaughterhouses are abattoirs with the proper facilities for export production while A and AA slaughterhouses are equipped to serve the domestic market. A-rated abattoirs have a lesser production capacity than AA-rated ones.
AA-rated slaughterhouses for livestock can usually process up to 100 hogs per day.
Public slaughterhouses serve the tolling needs of hog and poultry raisers. The local government hosting the slaughterhouse provides the land and the manpower for the operation and management of the abattoir while the DA provides the funds for the construction in the form of a grant.