The Tarkwa slaughterhouse was adjudged the best slaughterhouse for 2019 in the Western and Western North Regions.
They received the award from the Western Regional Veterinary Services Department (VSD) at its maiden awards night and took home detergents, wellington boots, brooms and a certificate of honour.
Handing over the items to the chief butcher at the forecourt of the slaughterhouse, the Municipal Director of Food and Agriculture for Tarkwa-Nsuaem, Nana Benyin Acquah Thompson, commended the chief butcher and his colleagues for working hard to earn such an award.
He implored the VSD and the Environmental Health Department (EHD) to adopt the best practices that would promote good public health in and around the slaughterhouse.
The Municipal Director appealed to the government, organisations and individuals to help resource the Tarkwa slaughterhouse with modern equipment to enable them render quality service to the public.
Dr. Christian Ofori Yeboah, Municipal Veterinary Officer, on his part explained that he worked in a number of slaughterhouses, but that the Tarkwa slaughterhouse stood out.
He noted “other slaughterhouses use car tyres, which is poisonous to singe animals and the environmental scientists are advocating that they stop this act, but when l arrived in Tarkwa I realised that the butchers have started using firewood to singe animals many years”.
Mr. Yeboah congratulated the chief butcher and his colleagues for this laudable initiative and entreated officers of the VSD and EHD to work harder to continue to promote the image of the various departments.
“We are also going to support the Tarkwa slaughterhouse because once it has been nominated for the regional award and won we believe that very soon it’s going to win a national award”, he added.
A Chief Technical Officer of the VSD, Mr. Fredolinge Kodzo Agawu, who doubles as the meat inspector at the slaughterhouse, expressed appreciation to the Western Regional VSD for recognizing their good work.
Mr Agawu was also adjudged the best meat inspector and advised his colleagues to work in all levels to promote the VSD on the globe.
Receiving the items, chief butcher, Mr. Baba Oly Yakubu, thanked the organizers for the award and added that to promote environmental cleanliness, the slaughterhouse, which usually flooded during the raining season was, fenced, painted, expanded and filled with waste materials by the Tarkwa-Nsuaem butchers association in the Municipality.
He, therefore, beseeched the various butcher associations in the country to emulate this step as the government alone could not provide all their needs.
