Parliament’s Health Committee has raised concern over the discriminatory practices at abattoirs and slaughterhouses that ban the slaughter of pigs on these premises, saying this imposes health risks on pork eaters in Uganda due to the absence of formal places where pigs eaten in Uganda are slaughtered.
Samuel Opio, Vice Chairperson, Parliament’s Health Committee raised the concern while meeting officials of the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health to discuss the Committee’s findings following field visits to various abattoirs and slaughterhouses across the country.
“We want to know, for that particular species, do we have specific guidelines because I am sure even the modern abattoirs that you are talking about, most of, or none of them handle pigs, and you know that pork is one of the most widely consumed meats in this country,” Opio, who’s also the Kole North MP, said.
He added: “Most of the abattoirs we realized don’t handle the slaughter of pigs. And because of that, it has been left to either the private sector; it is not very clear, and many of the places that we found were in very deplorable conditions, and one of the reasons that was happening was because, under the Halal framework, some species can’t be slaughtered within those abattoirs.”
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization, the average per capita consumption of pork in Uganda (3.4 kg/person/year) is almost two times higher than what it is in all other East African countries, and it is the highest in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa (FAO 2011).
The body added that the consumption of pork in Uganda sharply increased just before 1990, possibly resulting from peace consolidation due to changes in political regime; the consumption of beef has declined; and in 2007 both reached the same level.
