By Dr Tony Monda
A REPORT filed on March 11 2020, read: “Government bans slaughter of cattle from disease affected areas in Zimbabwe.”
This is a positive move by the Zimbabwean Government to institute disease control measures so necessary for the buoyancy of the cattle industry of the country and the safety and welfare of beef consumers.
During a post-Cabinet meeting briefing, it was reported that the Government had taken note of the reports circulating on social media and has since launched a national investigation into the matter.
The Government has also deployed three cattle inspectors and livestock authorities in every ward in the various districts of the country where cattle are raised.
According to the report, the Veterinary Department that falls under the Ministry of Lands, Agriculture, Water and Rural Resettlement is charged with the inspection of meat during slaughter at the various abattoirs throughout the country. However, once the carcass leaves the abattoirs, it becomes the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and national meat inspectors to ensure that the beef sold in shops is not contaminated.
Over the past 50 years, global meat production has almost quadrupled from 84 million tonnes in 1965 to more than 330 million tonnes in 2017.
Between 2000 and 2014, the global production of meat rose by 39 percent.
In 2016, the cattle population reached 1, 474 billion animals, up 44 percent from 1966.
In 2017, around 330 million tonnes of meat were produced worldwide.
On average, every person on earth currently consumes 43,5kg of meat per year.
The US citizens consumed 115 kg of meat and people in the UK 81kg, while citizens in India only ate 3,7kg.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) forecast an increase to 335 million tonnes for 2018 and estimates that by 2030, meat production will increase another 19 percent compared to the period 2015-2017, with developing countries accounting for almost all of the total increase.
Milk production is projected to grow by 33 percent in the same period.
Meat consumption in the EU stagnated, with a growing number of people switching to vegan diets where there has been notable changes in consumers’ perceptions of food safety in general and meat safety in particular, with sectors of the populations in both the EU and the US willing to pay higher prices for meat with better guarantees of animal health and health controls.
Food safety concerns assumed new proportions since the 1980s, as a result of several ‘food alarms’ such as BSE (or Mad Cow Disease) in beef, dioxins in poultry and pigs or salmonella outbreaks in poultry. Additionally, Foot and Mouth Disease and Avian Influenza have also had an influence on Western consumers’ buying behaviour.
In today’s globalised meat markets, meat safety faces innumerable challenges; campylobacter and salmonella are the most common pathogens affecting meat safety. Other microbiological hazards, technological hazards (those related to genetic modification) or contaminant-related hazards (pesticides and drugs), are widely described and debated concerning meat safety.
GMOs also emerged as a food safety concern, with several reports of ‘a very strong mistrust’ from European consumers about food products that include GMOs, even though it is possible that feeding cattle with GMOs is something most consumers do not consider or even have much knowledge about.
The EU has developed an impressive body of legal instruments that relate to food safety.
Food safety legislation has closely accompanied scientific development in the field of food safety where legislation on food safety is applicable to all kinds of food among more specific legislation directed towards specific products.
Specific food and feed laws cover, among many other subjects, food residues, contaminants and microbiological hazards.
Quality management systems for food safety are based on public legislation and on private standards; both having the Codex Alimentarius as its foundation.
Codex Alimentarius is a code of practice based on scientific evidence, established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Its goals are to protect consumers’ meat safety and to facilitate international trade.
It has no mandatory aspects, but acts as a basis for many legal standards, including those of the EU of which our Zimbabwean beef farmers and producers need to take heed of.
Private quality management systems have been developed within the EU, mostly by the food distribution sector, and generally include the legal requirements pertaining to food safety, while trying to complement them.
Some examples include GLOBALG.A.P.(G.A.P.) – Good Agricultural Practice; formerly EUREPGAP – Euro-Retailer Produce Working Group, British Retail Consortium (BRC), International Food Standard (IFS), European Food Safety Inspection Service (EFSIS) and Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI).
Even though legal frameworks play a major role in guaranteeing the safety of meat products throughout the entire EU food chain to guarantee the absence of any future outbreaks of safety concerns, a segment of consumers within the EU have, nonetheless, expressed their preferences for beef with quality labels such as Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) or other guaranteed origin schemes, for which they are willing to pay premiums for meat products.
For example, surveys conducted in Portugal found that consumers invariably associate Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) with safer beef products in beef.
Free-range or organic meat and other meat products with certified production methods are also associated with safety guarantees; even though there is no evidence that organic food is safer than conventional products.
Quality strategies involving guaranteed traceability are also preferred by consumers when it comes to additional safety guarantees in food safety.
In order to realise international re-engagement, Zimbabwe needs to be aware of international food safety issues that have been recognised by the EU, WHO and the Codex Alimentarius and work towards becoming a PDO, as a guarantee for our meat exporting industry that was hitherto firmly entrenched in the high-value segment of the global meat and food market.
The challenge now for Zimbabwe is to ensure that beef producers, all along the value chain, meet the international requisites for good quality beef.
The implementation of new digital beef technologies is essential for the management of the quality of beef Zimbabwe is reputed for.
Given cattle rearing is very competitive internationally, Zimbabwe, at this point in time, ought to be at pains to introduce not only digital farming, but other requisite measures at grassroots level.
Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) and Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, lecturer and a specialist post-colonial scholar, Zimbabwean socio-economic analyst and researcher. For views and comments, email:tonym.MONDA@gmail.com