Assessment of hygiene status of poultry slaughtering facilities and meat handling practices of butchers by using a hygiene assessment tool

In the present study, hygiene conditions and meat handling practices of poultry butchers are assessed by using a hygiene assessment tool. The study was conducted in the Hyderabad and Jamshoro districts of Pakistan from April 2019 to February 2020. A total of fifty slaughtering facilities were selected based on convenient sampling techniques and butchers from those shops were interviewed by using a hygienic assessment tool. Moreover, socio-demographic details of butchers were also recorded by questionnaire survey. The hygiene assessment tool comprises three domains, personal hygiene index (PHI), meat hygiene index (MHI) and slaughtering facility hygiene index (SFHI). Each of the indexes consists of certain observations and each of the positive observations was scored one, while negative observation was scored zero. It has been revealed from this study that more than 50% of butchers were without any education and none of the butchers had received any formal training in slaughtering and meat handling practices. Basic pre-requisites of hygiene such as handwashing facilities and clean water were missing in all of the slaughtering facilities. More than 30 and 50 percent of butchers scored the least (between zero – one) in PHI MHI and SFHI. However, the total score of butchers with a higher level of education was greater (p < 0.05) than with a lower education level. To improve hygiene levels and reduce transmission of diseases due to the consumption of contaminated meat, regular surveillance of the poultry shops and formal training of butchers are necessary.