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'Appalling c onditions' at abattoir
A REPORT ON THE
KILLING OF
CANBERRA'S MEAT
By DOUGLAS COLE
Tubular steel pens
with a liberal sprinkling
of sheep droppings take
up one end of the
slaughter floor.
The sheep are herded up a
race into the pens.
Then, one by one, they are
dragged to the shallow open
drain that separates the pens
from the rest of the killing area.
A single, deft stroke of the knife
and the throat is cut.
Soon 20 or more twitching
carcasses lie neatly side by side.
The drain runs red.
Each carcass is dragged across
the drain; it is still on the pitted
floor as the butchers do their
work.
The process is primitive, dirty
and inefficient. Yet it is the way
in which much of the mutton
and Iamb being served on Can
berra and Qucanbeyan tables is
slaughtered each day at the Can
berra abattoir.
I had my first look at the
abattoir this week when invited
to accompany members of the
ACT Advisory Council on an
inspection.
I was not shocked, I onco
worked in an abattoir.
But I was incredulous. I be
lieve the conditions now prevail
ing at the Canberra Abattoir
would not be tolerated at any
NSW local or regional killing
centre. When compared with the
very high requirements of the
Department of Primary Industry
for the issue of a meat export
licence — even for meat destined
for hamburger mince — they
become appalling.
Conditions for the slaughter of
cattle are as primitive as those
for sheep.
The beast is cjectcd from the
knocking box — where the
cattle are stunned — directly on
to the killing floor not far short
of the area where it is later
butchered.
Again almost the entire opera
tion is carried out on that
rough and pitted old concretc
floor — even much of the wash
ing-down.
There arc no sinks or
sterilisers to be seen. All ofTal
goes into battered tubs, Edible
offal is inspected on a station
ary bench and, if passed, placed
in equally battered trays. Sound
organs follow diseased organs
over the inspection bench.
There is no system used to
identify what beast a diseased
organ comes from.
Sheep heads arc piled to one
side of the floor waiting to be
split open so that brains can be
extracted and boxed. Chutes for
the disposal of offal, hide, and
other extras appear to be holes
in the floor with trucks under
them.
There arc the inevitable flics.
The man extracting the sheep
brains uses an old-fashioned,
red household fly spray to check
them.
What hits an observer is the
lack of spacc and the dilapida
tion of the works.
Compare this with standards
at Australia's export-standard
meatworks where kills have been
stopped until slaughtermen
changed their dirty boots!
But standards have to be
high in an export-licence abat
toir, or else the Americans, fhe
Dutch, the French, the Germans
and the Scandinavians will not
acccpt meat from them.
The story at the Canberra
works docs not stop at the kill
ing floor.
The boilers arc not able to
provide enough hot water for
sterilising and washing down or
enough steam for the cookers in
the by-products section.
Because of the shortage of
steam and the condition of the
cookers, each "cook" takes about
nine hours. In addition, one of
the cookers has broken down
and is thought to be beyond re
pair.
Overtime has to be worked so
the by-products section can cope
with the waste from the day's
kill. Even then some fats have
to be burned because the cookers
are unable to cope with them.
The by-products . section
manufactures meat meal as
poultry and stock feed and
blood and bone fertiliser.
This area, at any mcatworks,
is never a pleasant place. But
shortage of space and outdated,
and apparently inefficient, plant
makes the by-products area at
the Canberra Abattoir less plea
sant than most.
The conditions at the abattoir
have existed for at least 18
months. It is thai long since the
Advisory Council first drew at
tention to them.
Council members based their
judgment on expert advice and
inspections they made of modern
mcatworks in surrounding areas
of NSW.
After this week's inspection
council members claimed the
abattoir had deteriorated even
further.
Members of the abattc:r staff
I talked to during the inspection
conceded that the conditions
were very poor.
One had worked at three
major abattoirs in the northern
part of NSW and came to
Queanbcyan from what is
judged to be one of the most
modern meatworks in Australia.
He said that when he first saw
the Canberra killing floor ho did
not know what he had walked
into.
Some officers of the Depart
ment of Health, which adminis
ters the abattoir, arc said to hold
private views similar to those of
the advisory councillors and
abattoir staff.
Admittedly, the conditions of
sale or lease for the abattoir re
quire improvements likely to
cost a six-figure amount within
two years of its changing hands.
This would remedy the posi
tion.
In the meantime, whatever
their motives in making them,
the claims of the advisory coun
cillors remain true.
Conditions at the abattoir are
disgusting. They appear to have
been that way for a long time.
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