World meat industry news

Prices in butcher shops in Stavropol began to rise from the beginning of September. One of the reasons could be a ban on the slaughter of livestock in private farms, introduced on September 1.

The slaughter of livestock destined for sale is now carried out only in slaughterhouses. Until the first of September, this could be done at home.

“The veterinarians went on call, conducted a clinical examination of the animals with thermometry and gave permission for slaughter,” says Irina Kolesnikova, deputy head of the Ipatovskaya animal disease control station. - The owner slaughtered cattle in his farmstead, and then the veterinarian examined the carcass, put a brand, entered it into the Mercury system and sent it to the market with a certificate from this system. There was already a full veterinary and sanitary examination. Now the sale will include products obtained only at specialized points, where it will be examined by a veterinarian. This will increase the safety of meat for the consumer.”

There are only three licensed slaughterhouses in the Ipatovsky district, two of them are in the city itself. According to Irina Kolesnikova, their capacities fully cover the needs of the local population and farmers.

There are only two slaughterhouses in the Budyonnovsky district. One - at a large meat processing plant, it has been working for many years. The second one is on a rural eco-farm. It is still being completed, but it is already accepting the first orders.

“We have premises for slaughter, processing of by-products, edible meat and non-edible meat, for example, for dog food, two freezers, two refrigerators,” said Gusen Karatov, head of the slaughterhouse. “We decided to set democratic prices.”

According to him, those who sell meat in the market usually hire slaughterers. They charge 1.5-2 thousand rubles for one head of cattle. The massacre will take the same amount. The slaughter of small cattle is cheaper - 350 rubles per head. It will be held in a clean specialized room with tiled floors, stainless equipment, a veterinarian's table and an autonomous sewer, in which liquid waste will be cleaned before being discharged into the general system. In addition, the slaughterhouse will work according to halal principles, that is, Muslims can also eat meat from it.

Who will pay the extra?

In the opinion of the chairman of the public organization "People's Trade Union" Davud Adakhov, who defends the rights of Stavropol livestock breeders in their disputes with veterinarians, products will not become safer. He says that he has already caught wind workers forging examinations when they found diseases and forced farmers to hand over healthy animals for stamping out at a price 10 times lower than the market price.

“The new slaughter rules are another way to skin the peasants and destroy animal husbandry in private backyards. And all for the sake of agroholdings building large farms,” Davud Adakhov is sure.

Mazaran Isakov, a livestock breeder from the Shpakovsky district, confirms that his expenses will definitely increase.

“We used to slaughter cattle at home, the veterinarian examined them, issued a certificate, and we took the meat to the market or to the store,” he says. - According to the new law, we will first have to take the animal to the slaughterhouse in Grachevka, Novomaryevka or Tsimlyanskoye. For the delivery of each head, you have to pay 1.5 thousand rubles. Plus pay for the slaughter itself and for veterinary services.

Naturally, livestock breeders will pass on additional costs to consumers. Now the prices have gone up. Although, according to the seller in one of the large meat chains in Stavropol, this can also be explained by a seasonal factor: people eat more meat when it gets colder outside.

Point of view

Head of the Department of Veterinary Sanitary Expertise of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Government of the Chechen Republic Khedi Bersanova:

“The new rules do not apply to livestock that are slaughtered for personal use and not for sale. Animals must be slaughtered in specialized places where veterinary and sanitary conditions are observed: location outside the settlement with the possibility of access by transport, availability of water, sewerage, disposal of biological waste.

So far, there are only eight such points in the republic. This is not enough, and the Department of Veterinary Medicine came up with a proposal to the Government of Chechnya to instruct local governments to facilitate the construction of new sites and prevent house slaughter.

The rules also state that each animal entering for slaughter must have a tag by which you can understand where it came from. Cattle must be kept without food and water for a certain period of time. A veterinarian should observe him so that there is time to notice the manifestation of the disease, if any. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure humane treatment of animals, they cannot be killed in cruel ways, so that they do not have time to get scared and release stress hormones into the bloodstream.”