Prevalence of Indigestible Foreign Materials in Small Ruminants Slaughtered At the Kumasi Abattoir of Ghana

Abstract

An active survey was conducted from March to May, 2015, at the Kumasi Abattoir Company limited (KACL) to determine the prevalence of indigestible foreign materials (IFM) in the fore stomach of slaughtered small ruminants. Small ruminants presented for slaughter were randomly selected, tagged and then identified by sex, species and their body condition scored. After slaughter the stomach was removed carefully from the abdominal cavity and the forestomach incised to examine their contents. The type of foreign bodies found was recorded accordingly. The prevalence of IFM in small ruminants slaughtered at the Kumasi abattoir was 14.88%. Plastics (72.6 %), rope (14.1%), metal wire (8.2%), nails (8.2%), needles and other sharp objects (3.75%) rags (2.2%), sand pebbles (1.5 %) and broken bottles (0.75%) were the IFM identified in the fore stomach of small ruminants. IFM were more prevalent in fat animals (17.88%), followed by thin animals (17.23%) and least in average conditioned animals (7.94%). Environmental pollution with plastics and other indigestible foreign materials could pose serious health problems for extensively reared small ruminants. Plastics used for packing food and other items should be properly disposed off and small ruminants be provided supplementary feeding.