According to Lagos State Government, major food vendors, who sells meat, are now required to submit a ‘veterinary health certificate for trade of meat’ to the inspecting veterinary personnel in the state Ministry of Agriculture.
The state Commissioner for Agriculture, Gbolahan Lawal, made the announcement saying the state government would confirm the certificates to ascertain that the animal had been duly slaughtered under hygienic conditions.
He said “Veterinary divisional heads have also been mandated to identify meat vending outlets that are major distributors and retailers of meat within their respective divisions. They are to issue letters of notice containing a moratorium on the need for them to change their meat supply protocol to reflect the new policy. We have mandated our veterinary officers to do periodic and systematic inspection of these facilities within their jurisdictions. They must ensure that meats emanating from their divisions, which must come from mechanised facilities, are issued the veterinary health certificate for trade of meat. Any food vendor who breaches this code by purchasing meat that was not duly inspected or that did not come with the legal certificates will be guilty of an offence and his/her facility will be liable to be shut down. It is our hope that strict adherence by the concerned stakeholders and implementation by our veterinary officers of this policy will drive slaughtering activities towards more hygienic facilities”.