The status of hygienic practices of small-scale poultry slaughterhouse in Thailand: An ecohealth approach

Salmonella is pathogen of many mammalian species and it is one of the most important bacteria that cause food borne illness worldwide. Salmonella spp. can be commonly found in raw poultry and meat. Eggs, agricultural products, processed foods, raw milk and raw milk products and contaminated water also have been implicated in human salmonellosis. In Thailand, Salmonella was found to be the second largest cause of food poisoning, following rotavirus. Furthermore, antimicrobial-resistant strains of Salmonella spp. has been reported in many parts of the world. The importance of the resistance is that the bacteria acquire their resistance in the animal host before being transmitted to human through food chain. This may result treatment failures in human when applying antimicrobial agents to treat human salmonellosis. This study aimed to elucidate the status of small scale poultry slaughterhouses and their affect to ecological and health in the community in order to sustainably enhance hygiene and functioning of small scale poultry slaughterhouses in Northern Thailand. Initial steps included the identification of key stakeholders associated with the meat production chain, development of a research framework, and design of a methodology based on stakeholder consultations. The framework and methodology combine issues in five major areas: (1) public health, (2) socioeconomics, (3) policy, (4) veterinary medicine, and (5) communities and the environment. Consequently, a total of 41 small-scale poultry slaughterhouses were visited during the period from July 2011 to May 2012. Data on the current status of the slaughterhouses regarding productivity, economic status, hygienic management, and opportunities and challenges faced in improving the plants and following the DLD slaughterhouse regulations, were collected using a structured questionnaire and interviews. In addition, a checklist, which was developed based on the DLD regulations, was used for triangulation. In addition, a microbiological risk assessment approach was employed to detect Salmonella contamination in meat processing facilities. The microbial risk assessment was combined with stakeholder perceptions to provide an overview of the existing situation, as well as to identify opportunities for upgrading slaughterhouses in order to more effectively address matters of food safety, processing, and government licensing. The results of this study demonstrated that the developed conceptual framework could elucidate the complex factors limiting small-scale slaughterhouse improvement including a lack of appropriate enabling policies and an apparent absence of feasible interventions for improvement. Unhygienic slaughterhouse management was reflected in the incidence of Salmonella contamination. The prevalence of Salmonella spp. in live poultry, carcasses, waste water, and soil around processing plants were 3.17%, 7.32%, 21.27% and 29.27%, respectively. Moreover, the bacteria could be isolated from each point of slaughter lines. Eighteen different serotypes were identified, the most common being Corvallis (15.19%), followed by Rissen (13.92%), Hadar (12.66%), Enteritidis (10.13%), [I. 4,5,12 : i : -], Stanley, and Weltevreden (8.86%). Tests revealed that 68.35% of the Salmonella spp. were resistant to at least one antimicrobial while 50.63% showed multiple drug resistance (MDR). Specifically, 44.30% of Salmonella was resistant to nalidixic acid, followed by streptomycin (41.77%), ampicillin (34.18%), tetracycline (34.18%), and sulfamethoxazole/trimethoprim (20.25%). Policy advocacy was implemented through meeting with policy-level DLD officer responsible for slaughterhouse control in Thailand. The instruction including blueprint and feasible criteria of good practice of small scale poultry slaughterhouse was developed and then tested of microbiological quality of the meat. The results showed that Coliform bacteria and total bacteria count in meat after implementation was lower than that before implementation. It could be concluded that there is potential for the use of an Ecohealth approach to address critical problems and it’s solving at the interface of rural development and public health. The findings of this study could serve as a model for transdisciplinary studies and interventions related to other similar complex challenges

EcoHealth manual

Feeding the growing population, while promoting better health, environment and sustainable livelihood opportunities is a global challenge that we all share. EcoHelath is an approach that addresses some of these challenges by assuring better health for people, animals and environment. The IDRC supported program EcoZEID (Ecosystem Approaches to Better Management of Zoonotic Emerging Infectious Diseases) is being implemented by International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) since 2009, in five countries in South East Asia. The project worked with a large number of regional stakeholders to capacitate them in understanding and incorporating/ practicing EcoHealth. Two EcoHealth resource centres have been setup at leading universities in Indonesia (Gadjah Mada University) and Thailand (Chiang Mai University) as part of the project. This manual was prepared as a resource for teaching EcoHealth concepts to university students from diverse disciplines. It is intended to introduce examples of important aspects of EcoHealth, providing real world examples of each aspect and suggesting how the EcoHealth approach to research can be applied to improve the quality of human health, animal health and the environment. The EcoHealth approach involves interdisciplinary efforts: experts from various academic fields working as a team, learning to speak each other’s language, with the strengths of each discipline actively supporting each other. Moreover EcoHealth encourages researches to consider the broadest context when looking at concrete problems. That transdisciplinary approach can be employed by users of this manual. Individuals with a strong academic background in one area, e.g., the social sciences, can provide help to others who have had less experience in that discipline. By building an understanding of the concepts and research methods used by other fields, students can cooperatively develop their capacity to effectively apply the EcoHealth approach as members of interdisciplinary research teams

Identification of production challenges and benefits using value chain mapping of egg food systems in Nairobi, Kenya

Commercial layer and indigenous chicken farming in Nairobi and associated activities in the egg value chains are a source of livelihood for urban families. A value chain mapping framework was used to describe types of inputs and outputs from chicken farms, challenges faced by producers and their disease control strategies. Commercial layer farms were defined as farms keeping exotic breeds of chicken, whereas indigenous chicken farms kept different cross breeds of indigenous chicken. Four focus group discussions were held with producers of these chickens in peri-urban area: Dagoretti, and one informal settlement: Kibera. Qualitative data were collected on interactions between farmers, sources of farm inputs and buyers of poultry products, simple ranking of production challenges, farmers' perception on diseases affecting chicken and strategies for management of sick chicken and waste products. Value chain profiles were drawn showing sources of inputs and channels for distribution of chicken products. Production challenges and chicken disease management strategies were presented as qualitative summaries. Commercial layer farms in Dagoretti kept an average of 250 chickens (range 50–500); while flock sizes in Kibera were 12 chickens (range 5–20). Farms keeping indigenous chicken had an average of 23 chickens (range 8–40) in Dagoretti, and 10 chickens (range 5–16) in Kibera. Commercial layer farms in Dagoretti obtained chicks from distributors of commercial hatcheries, but farms in Kibera obtained chicks from hawkers who in turn sourced them from distributors of commercial hatcheries. Indigenous chicken farms from Dagoretti relied on natural hatching of fertilised eggs, but indigenous chicken farms in Kibera obtained chicks from their social connection with communities living in rural areas. Outlets for eggs from commercial layer farms included local shops, brokers, restaurants and hawkers, while eggs from indigenous chicken farms were sold to neighbours and restaurants. Sieved chicken manure from Dagoretti area was fed to dairy cattle; whereas non-sieved manure was used as fertilizer on crops. Production challenges included poor feed quality, lack of space for expansion, insecurity, occurrence of diseases and lack of sources of information on chicken management. In Kibera, sick and dead chickens were slaughtered and consumed by households; this practice was not reported in Dagoretti. The chicken layer systems contribute to food security of urban households, yet they have vulnerabilities and deficiencies with regard to disease management and food safety that need to be addressed with support on research and extension

Perspectives on antimicrobial use in pig and layer farms in thailand: legislation, policy, regulations and potential

Irrational use of antimicrobials is a major problem worldwide. The comprehensiveness of the existing legislation and veterinary pharmaceutical regulatory system has been critically evaluated and its practical implementation was assessed in this study. A cross-sectional survey study, and an in-depth interview of key informants involving the layer and pig farm owners/managers of farms located in Chiang Mai, Lamphun and Chonburi Provinces were conducted. The Thai FDA is responsible for pre-marketing and authorizes relevant officials of DLD to enforce drug acts related to the post-marketing of veterinary drugs/biologics. These existing legislations and regulations were comprehensive enough to cover all areas of pharmaceutical activities developed to protect the health of the public and animals in the country; however, the enforcement of these rules may not be properly enforced or may be ineffectively executed. Rules regarding veterinary pharmaceuticals being distributed throughout the country have not been clearly stated. Farmers can easily access veterinary pharmaceuticals, and veterinarian prescriptions were not needed. Additionally, the relevant benefits were among the most important reasons for choosing to use antimicrobials on farms, along with a lack of availability of better alternative products for the treatment of infections. Intensive legislation and regulation enforcement were considered to be the most effective means of reducing antimicrobial usage and abuse in Thailand