Prepared by : Sayed Mohammad Naim KHALID
Afghanistan is an agricultural country. Its economy is said to be agriucltural economy and around 75-85% people are busy in this sector. Within the overal agricultural sector about 12-15% is livestock which is used mainly for meat, milk and transport purposes. Due to lack of less resouces on industry level and poor economic conditions meat industry is not very hygienic and safe. In terms of structure, curently no slaughter houses are present and the butcher shops are merly a shop which do not have cold chain system, ventilation and pest control systems. In every shop flys of different kinds can be seen around the carcass, the floors are mud made . Bleeding from the carcass is not controled and the blood drips on the floor. The carcass is slung in the open air where dust, polluted air and contaminated flys can come in touch with the meat easily.
Talking of HACCP in Afghanistan may be a day dream in meat industry as of now. As overall, good manufacturing practices and traceability are considered by food industry as the most important practices in terms of the efficacy of their food safety controls and business performance.
The predominant barriers to the implementation of HACCP are associated in general with finance such as internal budgetary constraints, problems of obtaining external funding, and other investments considered more important.
Clearly, firms’ unreceptive attitude towards the HACCP system’s suitability, potential to garner benefits, and ability to enhance the current food safety status are affecting together to erect an important barrier that prevent firms from adopting HACCP system.
The level of awareness and perceptions of the ‘appropriateness’ of HACCP seems to be far more important barrier that must be addressed in order to facilitate the adoption of HACCP. Clearly, if enterprises do not perceive the need to implement HACCP they will unlikely to spend time informing themselves and/or exploring the options and associated costs and benefits of HACCP implementation.
There are a number of potential strategies through which the implementation of HACCP might be facilitated and enhanced through cooperation and coordination between policy makers of Afghan government, NGOs, INGOs, private sector and industry organizations.
First, there is a fundamental need for improve the awareness of relevant government institutions, business people and customers about the training materials and modules that address the fundamental staffing issues associated with the implementation of HACCP . Second, for a need to be established through which food safety employees mainly managers can exchange experiences and/or identify ‘best practices’. Thirdly, the structurising the regulation of food safety for all industries which will be based on HACCP principles. Finally, a series of case studies should be undertaken based around pilot/demonstration plants through which the process and implications of HACCP implementation might be made ‘more visible’ to business decision-makers in the food processing sector.
Figure (1): In this photo the visible foreign hazard sources are visible and near to the meat. Water supply in the meating cutting is rear. In addition, there is no protection of meat from the vegetables, dusts and insects. More dangerously, the act of siting on the cutting board or the place where meat is finally processed for the customer, is also very common.
Figure (2): In this photo the hygiene of the personal is considered. As of now in Afghanistan there is no law for meat industry operator to be clean, wear hygienic cloths, cover their hair and wear gloves. The dirt of blood on the work area clothing of the operators raise almost to that level that the cloth makes a new crust and it become waterproof. No hygiene regulatory obligation present.
Figure (3): Here in this photo it is clearly visible that there is no structure, no free air control, contact even directly with the by-passers. More importantly, there is no cold chain management, the temperature can reach to around 30-40 °C in summer. Pest control is completely something non feasible in these conditions. Dust and external hazards can be directly attached and mixed with the meat hung on the hooks.
In conclusion I would like to mention that with the current trend of consumption of meat there will be many collective disease caused by meat which comes from unsafe sources. If we find good sources of support we may be very effective in developing the current food law of Afghanistan, formalising the trainings in HACCP and good manufacturing practices and issuing the certificates throughout the country.
References:
Herath, D. and Henson, S. (2010), Barriers to HACCP implementation: evidence from the food processing sector in Ontario, Canada. Agribusiness, 26: 265–279. doi: 10.1002/agr.20245
Murat Baş, Mariye Yüksel, Tuğba Çavuşoğlu, Difficulties and barriers for the implementing of HACCP and food safety systems in food businesses in Turkey, Food Control, Volume 18, Issue 2, February 2007, Pages 124-130, ISSN 0956-7135, 10.1016/j.foodcont.2005.09.002.
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