The slaughterhouse blues
It’s 1am and, as Phnom Penh sleeps, the haunting squeals of distressed animals are all that can be heard in the darkness of a field in Russey Keo district.
Pigs in open-air sheds have sensed what’s coming: Hundreds of them are about to be slaughtered for market.
In the absence of modern slaughterhouses with state-of-the-art machinery, the majority of pigs in Cambodia are killed in simple, traditional ways at facilities like this that consist of little more than roofs, frames and concrete floors.
It’s unenviable work for the dozens of men holding the knives, but, as long as the demand of Phnom Penh’s pork eaters is there, someone’s got to do it.
Danh Virak, 35, is one of these men. A family man who turned his back on a job in a garment factory for a “better opportunity”, Virak insists what happens here is just work to him.
“One pig is 5,000 riel – I get 3,000 of it myself and my [slaughtering] partner gets the rest,” he says. “He’s afraid to actually stab the pig, so I make more money than he does. …
Population growth and increased personal wealth has rapidly expanded the amount of meat consumed in Cambodia in the past two decades.
But as business has boomed, primarily though small slaughterhouses like this one, the sector has remained without adequate regulation.
A sub-decree rather than a comprehensive law governs how slaughterhouses operate, and hygiene and killing practices remain substandard, says Suon Sothoeun, deputy director of the Ministry of Agriculture’s animal health department. …
According to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), a key principle of slaughter hygiene is avoiding contact between the carcass and the floor. At this facility, animals are killed on concrete slabs, washed – and then thrown back on the floor to be gutted. …
If Ministry of Agriculture regulations were to be followed, the workers would be in protective uniforms, Sam Oeun says. At the very least, their skin would be covered. …
Concerned by potential outbreaks of influenza and other possible contamination during the meat-preparation process, the government has been trying to clean up the industry. …
Dr Allal, from the FAO, says the UN is working with development partners to ensure animal health standards are a priority in Cambodia’s meat industry. …
Sonny Krishnan, communications officer for the World Health Organization (WHO) in Cambodia, says he is most concerned with illegal slaughterhouses. …
Deaths from food poisoning are rare in Cambodia, according to Dr Sothoeun, from the Ministry of Agriculture. …
Dr Sothoeun says he has tried to persuade tycoon and Senator Mong Reththy to build one in Phnom Penh, but he’s “not seeing any progress”.
In 2009, Reththy’s eponymous company unveiled bold plans to breed one million pigs annually by 2015. Such a move was aimed at reducing reliance on imports, which were costing the Kingdom $100 million per year.
The following year, Reththy announced he would spend $3 million building Cambodia’s first modern slaughterhouse within 12 months and called on farmers to raise more animals to meet his requirements.
Such a slaughterhouse remains a dream for Reththy, a man known for producing palm oil on huge government-granted land concessions in Preah Sihanouk province. Reththy now boasts of raising swine “in style” in that province, saying his pregnant pigs enjoy air conditioning, while the rest are fed well and sheltered by mosquito nets.
In the end, though, he still sells them to small slaughterhouses like the one in Russey Keo district. …
Shane Worrell and Khouth Sophak Chakrya
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/slaughterhouse-blues
