Meat Handling and Consumption Practices in the Assin South and Cape Coast Metropolis of the Central Region of Ghana
Meat Handling and Consumption Practices in the Assin South and Cape Coast Metropolis of the Central Region of Ghana
Moses Teye1*, Joshua Amoni1, Awal Fuseini2
ABSTRACT
This study was conducted in the Assin South district and Cape Coast metropolis of the Central Region of Ghana to assess some meat handling and consumption practices among consumers. The Cape Coast metropolis was selected due to its cosmopolitan nature, while the Assin South district was selected due to its agrarian nature and absence of approved livestock slaughter facility in the locality. Six communities were randomly selected from each of the study areas, making a total of 12 communities. The systematic sampling procedure was used to select 30 households from each of the 12 communities, and the person(s) in charge of making meat purchasing decisions were interviewed. Questionnaires were designed and were pre-tested in Mankessim to validate the content, after which they were used to obtain data from a total of 360 households in the study areas. Data obtained were organised and presented in frequency tables and figures. The findings indicate that females (73.3%) dominated in making meat purchasing decisions in most of the households visited, and beef was the most preferred meat. Contrary to normal practise, the majority of the consumers preferred buying tough to tender fresh meats to minimize incidence of its disintegration during prolong cooking, but would prefer eating tender cooked meat. Most of the respondents who reared animals slaughter them in their homes without stunning, nor undertaking antemortem and postmortem inspections on them, thus raising animal welfare and meat safety concerns. Shockingly, some respondents slaughter animals for consumption mainly when the animals were sick, were not responding to treatment or die from natural causes, despite the apparent risks of transmitting zoonotic diseases and consuming antibiotic residues in the meat of such animals. Consumers ought to be educated on the negative health implications of eating meat of sick animals, animals which do not respond to treatment and those that die of natural causes as these could transmit zoonotic diseases and also leave antibiotic residues in meat consumed.
Keywords | Tough fresh meat, Chicken preference, Postmortem inspection, Antibiotic residue
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