Meat inspection and food safety concerns: open data kit (ODK)that Uganda is using to improve livestock disease surveillance and reporting.

 

Open Data Kit to improve livestock disease surveillance and reporting in Uganda.Surveillance of livestock diseases is key to reduce their harm to livelihoods, development and even humans. Meat inspectors in Uganda are using the Open Data kit (ODK) tool to improve animal disease surveillance and reporting, and sharing their experiences and knowledge with peers. The tool was rolled out at a training workshop held in October 2021 at the Makerere University College of Veterinary Medicine, Animal Resources and Biosecurity (COVAB). 

 The workshop aimed to boost, retool and equip inspectors in routine meat inspection procedures, hands-on skills in meat hygiene and food safety procedures, and knowledge of meat inspection regulations and standards. 

  Ensuring wholesome beef.

 How ODK works .

ODK is an open-source mobile data collection platform that enables users to fill out forms offline and send data to a server when a connection is found. 

 why reforms are necessary.

Once on the server, the data can be viewed, downloaded and acted upon. In the first six weeks following the training, the meat inspectors had uploaded more than 300 reports to the ILRI server.

 Collected data can be used to determine prevalence of diseases, locations and age-group of animals affected, and inform response. 

 Speaking at the review meeting, Annie Cook, a senior scientist at ILRI, commended the inspectors for their interest in improving the reporting of data on disease surveillance at the points of slaughter, saying: 'As pioneers at using the ODK tool in the meat inspection sector, your feedback and input is important in refining the tool so that it is useful and can be used in the future.' 

 Reporting their experiences, the meat inspectors noted that the tool was user-friendly and most did not have major challenges in uploading data. 

 

Tips for stress-free livestock transporting.

Tips for stress-free livestock transporting. Livestock transportation should result in as little stress to the animals as possible, whether they are being transported to the abattoir or other farms. Stress your livestock while transporting them and you are likely to end up with unnecessary weight loss, or even bruises or other injuries that could lead to disease, carcass rejections or even mortalities. 

Stress during transportation also has a negative impact on meat quality, which will affect your profits in the long term. According to Dr Dirk Verwoerd, a veterinarian at Karan Beef, animals inevitably lose some weight during transportation, as they do not eat or drink during the trip. 

The main goal, however, is to ensure that they do not lose weight due to dehydration. “It’s difficult to give a fixed answer for acceptable weight loss during transportation, as you have to take into account the type of animal as well as its age and condition at the start of the journey,” says Dirk. However, it is generally accepted that six- to eight-month-old beef weaners can lose up to 3% of their body weight during the first 100km and another 1% for each additional 100km. 

 “The initial losses are mainly due to gastro-intestinal content and urine,” explains Dirk. Depending on the condition of the cattle at the start of a trip, and their age, a loss of 8% to 10% of body weight should raise a red flag. A figure such as this indicates that weight loss is caused by intra-cellular dehydration. Because they are ruminants, cattle usually have enough food in their stomachs to last two days without eating, says Dirk.