Nearly 20 percent of cattle slaughterhouses nationwide have adopted Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point, an internationally accepted system of identifying specific hazards and measures for their control to assure food safety, a farm ministry survey revealed. The figure rises to more than half when facilities which plan to introduce or prepare for introduction of the system within three years are included. More than 10 percent of pig slaughterhouses and 20 percent of large-scale poultry processing plants have also adopted the system, according to the survey which was conducted for the first time.
27 out of 138 cattle slaughterhouses, or 19.6 percent of the total, said they have adopted HACCP, while another 27 replied they are preparing for introduction. 12 facilities or 8.7 percent said they will begin preparing to adopt the system within a year and 5 plants or 3.6 percent said they will do so within three years. All of them add up to 51.5 percent.
Meanwhile, 21 out of 155 pig slaughterhouses, or 13. 5 percent, and 37 out of 160 large-scale poultry processing plants, or 23.1 percent, said they have adopted the system. The figures rise to 46.4 percent and 46.9 percent respectively if facilities which plan to adopt the system or start preparing to do so within three years are included.
The ministry conducted the survey on all cattle and pig slaughterhouses nationwide excluding those out of operation and poultry plants which process more than 300,000 birds per year, and asked questions about their status quo as of April this year. “The system is adopted at more facilities than we expected,” said a farm ministry official. “We hope they will learn more about the merits of introducing HACCP and strengthen hygiene management.”
According to the survey, the number of cows slaughtered at facilities which adopt HACCP system totals 360,000, while the number of pigs slaughtered at such plants reaches 4.12 million, both occupying roughly 30 percent of the total. As for poultry, the number of domestic fowls slaughtered at facilities which adopt HACCP totals 350 million, nearly half of all birds processed at large-scale plants nationwide.
Adoption of HACCP in meat plants
(Sept. 29, 2015)