"We are busy attending to those defects which can go all the way to the farm which is where we meet with Department of Veterinary Services (DVS)," the abattoir's plant manager, Bosiela Saudu said at a press briefing and tour of the facility last Friday. He explained that EU is mostly looking at compliance issues such as traceability and structural defects. He said they were busy preparing for the EU inspection because it is very important to pass the audit. He asserted that BMC cannot survive without the EU market, which is like a benchmark for other markets such as Russia. "EU is such a lucrative market and once other markets know that you have been approved by EU, they want to do business with you," he said. He explained that when the EU conducts an inspection, BMC has to show that they have control of all the requirements and compliance. As a measure of improving traceability of animals, the DVS is abandoning the Livestock Identification and Traceability System (LITS) in favour of electronic ear tags, which is believed to easily transfer data to the central control system.
The EU requires that animals should be isolated in feedlots or farms for 90 days or 40 days in a holding territory.Saudu said that one of the major compliance issues is to treat the animals as humanly as possible while they are in the waiting territory. This includes keeping the animals in roofed sheds and providing them with bedding so that they do not sleep on bare floors. Saudu said that one of the issues that BMC is facing at the moment is low throughput. "Throughput is very low because of the drought last year but in the past three weeks, the numbers have gone up. This year, we are supposed to have slaughtered 10,900 but we have since managed 2,390," said the plant manager. He said that an EU slaughter will take place around March 20 as the 2,000 cattle are still accommodated at the feedlot in Mathangwane Village to meet the compliance.
