Slaughterhouses in Kenya
Slaughterhouses in Kenya – There were 65 operational slaughterhouses in Kenya in the year 2000. Sixty-three of these slaughterhouses dealt with red meat. The other two, namely, Farmer’s Choice and Kenchic, slaughtered pigs and poultry respectively.
There were 65 operational slaughterhouses in the year 2000. Sixty-three of these slaughterhouses dealt with red meat. The other two, namely, Farmer’s Choice and Kenchic, slaughtered pigs and poultry respectively. Kiamaiko and Mlolongo dealt exclusively with goats and camels respectively. Only two out of the 65 slaughterhouses, i.e., Hurlingham and Farmer’s Choice, are export standard slaughterhouses; the rest serve the local meat market. The annual output capacity of Hurlingham and Farmer’s Choice is 10,000 cattle and 20,000 pigs respectively and both are privately owned companies.
Out of 63 slaughterhouses that deal in red meat, 32 are privately owned and the remaining are public owned by various local authorities, with an annual average capacity of 18,344 and 9,774 respectively.
The slaughterhouses in Kenya are run by farmers through their cooperatives. Kenya has many slaughterhouses and abattoirs for beef, mutton, and poultry.
The Kenya Meat Commission is the biggest. Other certified ones are Kakuzi Ltd (beef) in Thika, Kenchic Ltd (poultry) in Nairobi, Dagoretti Slaughterhouse (beef and sheep) in Kikuyu and Ol Pejeta Ranching Ltd (beef and sheep) in Nanyuki.
Others are Kiserian Slaughterhouse (beef and sheep), Keekonyokie Slaughterhouse (beef and sheep) in Kiserian, Kinja Farm (poultry) in Kikuyu and Ruaraka Ducks Ltd (poultry) in Naivasha. WAN Ltd (poultry) is in Nairobi, CA and EZ Farm Produce (poultry) in Nanyuki, Turkey Farm (poultry) in Ngong and Marula Estates Ltd in Naivasha. Hurlingham and Farmer’s Choice are export-oriented. The others serve the local market. The annual output capacity of Hurlingham and Farmer’s Choice is 10,000 cattle and 20,000 pigs respectively.
Poultry/Chicken Slaughterhouses in Kenya
Several large and medium-sized vertically integrated poultry processors have their own state of the art poultry slaughterhouse, including processing plant. In these slaughterhouses, animals are slaughtered from the own integration as well as the animals from out-grower schemes/contract farms. A number of other poultry slaughterhouses are related to live bird markets in large cities such as Nairobi and Mombasa. Many clients, however, take their live birds home and slaughter them there. Besides these slaughterhouses, where 30% of broilers are slaughtered, the rest are slaughtered onsite at the primary farms and are brought as fresh chicken to, for example, the city market in Nairobi. More than 1,000 animals are slaughtered on a single day at these on-site slaughter places. Most of the backyard chickens are slaughtered on-farm or at the consumer’s home.
Meeting food safety standards is a precondition for the further growth and development of the poultry meat sector. This means that the various broiler producer associations must come up with a solution to the problem. Most changes in the meat sector in Kenya have been made by the government through legislation. If a ban is imposed on the way broilers are currently slaughtered on-farm, the associations could develop a mobile slaughter facility that moves from farm to farm. The larger farms should eventually create their own cold rooms, from which they supply the markets.
Pig Slaughterhouses in Kenya
There are four main slaughter facilities for pigs in Kenya. These include:-
Farmer’s Choice Limited: Kenya’s largest abattoir is located at Kamiti, on the outskirts of Nairobi. Besides the large Kamiti slaughterhouse of Farmer’s Choice, there are three others: Ndumboini Farm slaughterhouse, Lyntano slaughterhouse, and Kabati slaughterhouse. These all have a slaughtering capacity of 15–50 animals per day. These slaughterhouses have basic facilities and do partly service slaughter and partly slaughter of own pigs, which are sold to local butchers and pork restaurants. The remaining pigs are slaughtered on-farm in cramped, poorly equipped and limited hygienic conditions.
Rabbit Slaughterhouses in Kenya
The Rabbit Breeders Association of Kenya (RABAK) has a rudimentary slaughterhouse where they slaughter animals from their members. However, only a fraction of the total rabbit meat production is slaughtered here. The various rabbit production promotion organizations/integrators will have to develop adequate slaughter facilities.
Slaughterhouses in Kenya – Main Challenges
- Capacity building to support good slaughtering practices.
- Capacity-building activities that focus on veterinary public health and slaughterhouse inspections.
- Being able to comply with clients’ requirements in terms of food safety and quality: working GMP, GHP and HACCP systems that are audited and certified.
- Product development, better presentation and building up a system for tracking and tracing in due course.
Slaughterhouses in Kenya – Government’s Strategy for further Development of Slaughterhouse Infrastructure
- Transform community slaughterhouses into private slaughterhouses.
- Publicly owned slaughterhouses are rented to private companies.
- Cooperatively owned and exploited slaughterhouses.
- County government builds and runs slaughterhouses.
Slaughterhouses in Kenya – Video