Food Safety Programs that should be Implemented in Slaughterhouses: Review

Fresh meat and poultry meat are easily contaminated with various contaminants especially if it is not properly handled and preserved, leading to loss of quality and potential public health problems.Food safety addresses the accidental contamination of food products during processing or storage of food animal origin products. The main types of food safety hazards are biological, chemicals, and foreign objects. This unintentional contamination of meat during the slaughter can be reasonably anticipated based on the type of processing. This principle is the foundation of the Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) process used to ensure food safety. Hence, implementing Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), Good Hygienic Practices (GHP), Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) during slaughtering and processing is the ‘need of the hour’ to minimize the risk of contamination and produce high quality meat. Moreover, Sanitation Standard Operating Procedure (SSOP) documented steps that must be followed to ensure adequate cleaning and sanitizing of meat contact and non-product surfaces. Lastly, food defense program protects food including meat from causing harm to the consumer, including security procedures to mitigate intentional acts of adulteration. This review can help in understanding how these programs work and the importance of each in producing high quality and safe meat. As we hope these programs will be implemented in developing countries very soon.