TABUK CITY, Kalinga – After more than two years since the project started, the upgraded city slaughterhouse located in Barangay Appas is now 90% complete and is partially operational.
This is a statement released today by OIC- City Veterinarian Dr. Carmen Wanas saying that having a Double ‘A’ standard slaughterhouse means that meat products produced in the city can now be transported and sold to other areas of the country.
At the upgraded slaughterhouse facility, Wanas said equipment for slaughtering of livestock are already in place like electric hog stunner, captive bolt, blood collecting sink, dehairing table/gambrel table, beef and hog trolley, oscillating desk, automatic digital weighing scale viscera inspection table, among others, which were tested during a dry run earlier this day.
The project, she mentioned was also made possible with the P6.8M assistance from the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) for the procurement of the equipment found inside the facility and the will of the city government which defrayed the remaining expenses for the construction of the building itself and corral pen , land improvement and backfilling of the site which was a deep seated fishpond before and all the added improvements not included in the program of work of the Meat Establishment Improvement Program of NMIS.
During the dry run of equipment, NMIS Regional Director Mignon Umali, who was stunned by the progress of the project remarked” So far so good!”, she said a Double ‘A’ standard slaughterhouse is for those areas with facilities and operational procedures that are sufficiency adequate to ensure that slaughtered livestock are suitable for sale in any domestic market within the country. And to maintain the facility, butchers will have to be trained on slaughtering before they can operate the equipment.
Having one of the 1government-owned Double ‘A’ slaughterhouse, City Mayor Darwin Estrañero extended his gratitude for the assistance given by the NMIS to pursue the project. Estrañero also hopes that butchers will maximize the use of the facility so that backyard slaughtering will no longer be practiced here to ensure meat products are clean and safe for human consumption.
According to the City Veterinary Services Office (CVSO), there are still important aspects of the project which needed to be installed like septic tank, condemnation pit and gravitational water tank before the upgraded slaughterhouse could be fully operational. By Darwin S. Serion
