Good Hygiene practices (GHP)

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Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in slaughterhouse

WHAT ARE GMP & GHP?

GHP: all practices regarding the conditions and
measures necessary to ensure the safety and suitability of food at all stages of the food chain. GMP: describe the requirements for hygienic design and construction of slaughter premises and equipment. In short this means hygienic rules translated to instructions and procedures for employees and machinery.

SSOPs: describes how GHP is to be achieved i.e. minimizing microbial, chemical and physical contamination.

LAIRAGE
The principal function of the lairage is to provide a reservoir of animals for the slaughter line. For the purposes of food safety, and on animal welfare grounds, facilities must be available for the isolation and removal of any animals showing signs of illness.

Animals must be adequately rested before slaughter for 12hrs. Food should be withheld 12hrs before slaughter. Anti-mortem inspection must be diligently carried out to detect sick animals. Many diseases is often more easy to detect during Am rather than pm

Appropriate protective clothing should be worn and replaced each day or when heavily soiled Hands and arms should be washed and knives and equipments regularly sterilized Workers should not move from dirty to clean areas. Slaughtering should be done in tables or in hanging rail (in case of poultry) to reduce contamination by regurgitation

GHP for Slaughtering

The slaughtering knife should be cleaned and sterilized between each carcass at 82C. The head should be removed and after skinning washed separately from the carcass. Tonsils should be removed cleanly as they are heavily contaminated with pathogenic bacteria.

The slaughter and dressing operation provides many opportunities for contamination of the carcass with pathogenic bacteria which are not detectable at post-mortem inspection. Good manufacturing practices (GMP) can be focused on limiting this spread and, likewise, the establishment of control points at specific stages during slaughter and dressing.

GHP for skinning

Prevent contact or dirt flicking from feed parts of the hide and meat surface. Prevent contamination of the carcass with dirty hooks, knives and protective clothes. After the initial cut through the skin, sterilize the knife in water at 82c and then make all other cuts from the inside out.

 Do not create aerosols during mechanical hide-pulling. No hair or skin pieces should be left on the skinned carcass. No excess blood should appear on the skin of the carcass.

 All staff must be adequately trained in good hygienic practice (GHP) and be provided with proper working instructions. During dressing the oesophagus of cattle and sheep should be sealed to prevent leakage of ruminal contents.

In sheep this can be achieved by tying the oesophagus in a knot while in cattle a technique termed rodding may be used to free the oesophagus from the trachea and diaphragm and to position a rubber ring or plastic clip on the oesophagus close to the diaphragm.

Similarly, it is recommended that a plastic bag is used to seal off the rectum after loosening; this is sometimes referred to as bagging. Removal of hides or fleece should be carried out so that contact between the outside of the skin and the carcass is avoided while hands and equipment that touch the outside of the skin should not come into contact with the underlying carcass meat.

GHP for evisceration

Do not puncture the viscera (alimentary tract), uterus, urinary bladder and gall bladder during separation cuts. Prevent contact of viscera with floors, walls or stands. Regularly wash hands/aprons and sterilize knives, specially after any possible contamination has occurred. Identify/correlate viscera with the related carcasses

Careless evisceration must be avoided to prevent contamination of the carcass with gut contents. During post-mortem meat inspection, palpation and incision of lymph nodes, infected tissues or tissues with abnormalities can give rise to cross contamination. Incision should be avoided where possible, and palpation of organs should be minimal.

presence of veterinary certificates, availability of adequate health status information about animals source and history, application of animal identification &traceability system ) will help to minimize invasive inspection methods.

Carcass splitting saws should be sterilized between each carcass. Proper cleaning and sanitation of the slaughter floor and equipment should occur daily and frequently during the day to reduce contamination from these sources. and it should be done under skillful and firm supervision. Sanitary Standard operation procedures (SSOPs) for cleaning and sanitation of all parts of the plant should be in-place and wellimplemented .

Premises should be designed and maintained in an hygienic state. Knives must be frequently sterilized and cleaned particularly between carcasses and between skin opening and further flaying. Scabbards using should discouraged, much hygienic alternative should be seeked.

Carcasses should not be washed to remove accidental contamination but must be trimmed instead. The surface temp. of carcasses must be reduced to below 7C in as short time as possible to limit the growth of microorganisms which may accidentally contaminate the carcass.

GHP for refrigeration Move the carcasses into the chiller as soon as possible to speed up the surface drying and hinder bacterial growth. Keep carcasses on rails and without touching floors/walls and other carcasses to prevent cross-contamination.

Do not overload the cooler. Adjust the cooling rgime optimally in terms of air temp., speed and relative humidity, to achieve rapid refrigeration to a deep muscle temp. of 6-7C with no condensation or weight loss. Do not open the cooler doors either unnecessary or frequently to avoid temp. fluctuations. It is of extreme necessity that adequate lightening should be maintained inside the cooling rooms

Keeping carcasses spaced to allow surface drying limits growth of microorganisms.

Rodent and pest control

Adequate rodent and pest control must be occur to prevent salmonella contamination of meat and handling equipment from these sources.

Waste disposal

There shall be facilities provided for the storage of all waste types prior to its removal. This area should be properly drained for any run-off that may occur. It should be located away from the production area. Containers for waste material shall be clearly identified, leak proof and fitted with covers.

Training
Basic training in hygiene :

1.Nature and how it affect. 2.Hygiene practices. 3.Regulations and procedures of meat plant. 4.Health requirements of personnel. These can be fully explained in booklet given to new employees in which nature of, viruses, bacteria, yeasts and moulds. along with occupational hazards.

On the job training: can deal with

1. 2. 3. 4.

Use of equipments and their sterilization. Protective clothing. Accidents,use of dressing and first-aid. Visit to the AMHL lab will be of great value.