MONTEGO BAY, St James — Public health inspectors in St James are having a challenge monitoring the 35 butchers at 18 approved locations across the parish who are slaughtering animals for human consumption. So, they have renewed their call for one abattoir, in an easily accessible location, that they can monitor effectively.

“One of the things that the health department is grappling with at this moment is the great number of slaughterhouses that we have to contend with every day in the parish,” chief public health inspector for St James, Sherika Lewis said during last Thursday’s monthly meeting of the parish’s municipal corporation.

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“This has taken away from some of our duties. For example in the Cambridge area, Monday to Friday we have butchers who are slaughtering,” she highlighted. “We want to encourage again the need for a centralised slaughterhouse.”

The public health official also stressed the impact a central location would have on quality control.

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“We have seen over the years persons who are stealing animals, and these animals may very well go into the food trade. We also want to encourage our butchers as well to ensure that whomever they purchase their animals from for slaughter, that they can verify ownership of the animals they slaughter. We are also imploring persons who may need to purchase meat for consumption that they ensure that wherever the meat is bought [it] is from a licensed butcher,” Lewis stated.

However, while Mayor of Montego Bay, Leeroy Williams agrees that there is the need for one main abattoir, he is equally aware of the challenge in finding a suitable location.

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“We need an abattoir, and it would be ideal if we could establish one in the city but we are having problems in relation to that,” he said in response to Lewis.

“We have looked at that in the past and one of the challenges we’ve come across is that the [National] Water Commission do not want us to put the waste in their system,” he explained.

“We would have to look at one that may be out in the country area, and that would not be ideal,” added Williams.