Knowledge attitude and practice of meat inspection among stakeholders in Owerri, South-eastern Nigeria

Meat safety and disease surveillance are highly dependent on effective ante- and postmortem examination of meat at local abattoirs/slaughter slabs. In view of cases of emerging and re-emerging disease outbreaks of public health significance, it is important to use participatory epidemiology as a tool to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of animal presentation for ante-mortem and post-mortem evaluation using a local abattoir in Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria as a case study. 90 Questionnaires were distributed and informal interviews held with stakeholders (animal owners, butchers, livestock department personnel and veterinary officers attached to the abattoir). Information gathered include; factors affecting the presentation of animals for inspection at the abattoir, attitude of animal owners and butchers to meat inspection, willingness and compliance of butchers during meat inspection, level of the butchers' knowledge of the importance of meat inspection and degree of access of the Veterinary officer-in-charge to all slaughtered animals. Result show that market demand, economic pressure and lack of understanding influence animal owners' and butchers' cooperation in meat inspection. Over 90 % of stakeholders understood the importance of meat inspection but more than 60% of animal owners and up to 40% of butchers feel they are uninformed about meat inspection. Incidentally almost 80 % of stakeholders do not blame the government for failures in the programme. Veterinary and other livestock department personnel are not as motivated and empowered to effectively execute their duties. There is need for increased education among stakeholders on the importance of meat inspection as well as prompt payment of compensations and more legal backing from government to promote the programme in the state and indeed in the country.