Worrying: only 17 out of 492 slaughterhouses are approved

This is a magazine Observer of Morocco and Africa which rings an alarm: among the 492 listed, only 17 slaughterhouses are approved by the public authorities in Morocco, of which 10 are municipal and 7 are private.

“The figures were revealed by the Minister of Agriculture, Marine Fisheries, Rural Development and Water and Forestry, Mohamed Sadiki, during a recent oral question session in the House of Representatives. specifies the weekly. On this occasion, the minister focused on the multiple challenges facing slaughterhouses in Morocco, including outdated and inadequate infrastructure and equipment, insufficient health standards and inefficient management.

The Minister of Interior, Abdelouafi Laftit, also pointed out numerous shortcomings in the work of public slaughterhouses and added that the quality of services is directly related to the capacity of local authorities to bear the financial costs associated with the maintenance of this infrastructure, most of which do not have adequate financial resources to assume these responsibilities.

The authorities closed several rural slaughterhouses that did not meet safety standards. In return, the Ministry granted the communities financial support equal to the income generated by these slaughterhouses and acquired the necessary equipment to ensure the supply of red meat. But that is not enough.

“The Court of Auditors published a detailed report revealing that only five collective slaughterhouses out of 900 in existence meet health standards in Morocco. Control missions carried out by regional accounting councils between 2007 and 2015 highlighted a number of recurring deficiencies in hygiene, health and management“, we read.

The report stated, among other things, that many slaughterhouses were not connected to drinking water, electricity and sewage networks. Many also lack the sanitary facilities needed to clean and disinfect hands and tools, as required by specifications.

In 2017, the Ministry of Agriculture, in cooperation with the Ministry of the Interior, launched a master plan with the aim of restructuring the national network of slaughterhouses.

Mohamed Sadiki therefore announced financial incentives to encourage private investors to establish modern slaughterhouses, offering subsidies of up to 30% of total costs and limited to 18 million dirhams per unit.

As part of the Generation Green strategy, the goal is to build and renovate 120 modern slaughterhouses by 2030. For the current year, 16 modern communal slaughterhouses are currently being equipped. The construction of 12 new slaughterhouses is also planned for this year.