The Economic status, hygienic practices and challenges for
improvement of Small Scale Poultry Slaughterhouses
to meet Standard Poultry Slaughterhouse Regulation
in Northern Thailand
Ecosystem Approaches to the Better Management of Zoonotic Emerging Infectious
Diseases in the Southeast Asia Region (EcoZD) project
EcoHealth Conference, Kunming China 2012
Suwit Chotinun, Kannika Na Lampang, Fred Unger,
Manat Suwan, Suvichai Rojanastien

Rationales and concepts
“Kitchen of the world”
Food safety is
&
priority
Outbreak of food-borne diseases
Improper management of Require hygienic
slaughterhouses might cause management
food borne disease study
Complexity of socio- Focus on
economic, veterinary
Integrative and
sciences, public
health, environment and EcoHealth
political perspective concept
2

The objectives of the study
1. To determine possible association between
economic status and hygienic practices
2. To evaluate the opportunities for improvement to
meet the existing standard regulation for small scale
poultry in northern Thailand

Materials and methods
Thailand Study area and samples
• The study was taken in
Chiang Mai
province, Thailand
• 46 from 80 slaughterhouses
were included to the study

Data collection
 Data on the existing law/regulation and its implementation
were collected from the Department of Livestock
Development authorities
 Data on economics and management were collected from
slaughterhouse owners
• Cost of production
• Productivity
• Investment
• Monthly expenses

Methods used in this study
Questionnaire Observation Salmonella ident.
Interview Focus group diss.

Action
The law/regulation factors
Hygienic practices and management
Veterinary Sciences factors
Public health factors
Guideline for improvement
Standard of operation (SOP)
Environment factors
Socio-economics factors

The results

Results- demographic data of SH owner
Characteristic Frequency Percent
Gender
male 21 45.7
female 25 54.3
Age
21-29 2 4.3
30-39 10 21.7
40-49 9 19.6
50-59 20 43.5
=>60 5 10.9
Education
No education 1 2.2
primary 32 69.6
secondary 10 21.7
Diploma 2 4.3
Bachelor 1 2.2

Results- duration of operation
Duration for operation (years) Frequency Percent
1-5 14 30.4
6-10 8 17.4
11-15 12 26.1
16-20 6 13.0
>25 6 13.0
46 100.0
Total

The results- monthly income
from slaughterhouse
Total income (USD) Frequency Percent
Up to 600 17 37.0
601-1,200 9 19.6
1,201-1,800 11 23.9
1,801-2,400 2 4.3
2,401-3,000 2 4.3
>3,000 5 10.9
Total 46 100

The results-income, expense & debt
Factors Total
N
(USD)
Average of total income 46 1,654.2
Average income from slaughterhouse 46 1,200.5
Average of monthly expense 46 800.0
Average debt 31 287.0

Hygienic management on SH
Class Percentage
Good 0.0
Fair 6.5
Poor 93.5

Perception of slaughterhouse owner on their income
(2011 and 2012)
Perception on income Year
2011 2012
Good 15.9 18.2
General 59.1 27.3
Bad 25.0 54.5
Total 200.0 100.0

Reason for income change
Reason for income change Frequency Percent
Meat price change (Increase) 15 71.4
Live chicken price change (Increase) 14 66.7
Sell volume change (Decrease) 20 95.2
Competition with supermarket (Decrease sell volume) 3 14.3
Wage change (Increase) 2 9.5
Investment 2 9.5

FGD with - DLD authorities (provincial & district)
• All slaughterhouses must apply
Standard certification within
2012
• Current regulation is
impracticable for small scale
slaughterhouses
• All small slaughterhouses in
our study do not currently
meet the standard regulation

Interview with slaughterhouse owners
• The affection of the DLD regulation on slaughterhouses
 35% (28/80) had to stop running business compared with the
last 2 years , mainly because the owners could not follow the
DLD regulation and/or low profitability
17

Interview with slaughterhouse owners
 Most of slaughterhouse owners (80.4%) would like to improve
their plants to meet the regulation
 However, all of them not able to improve their plants to
follow the regulation
The main challenges are:
• Impractical criteria of regulation (90%)
• Not enough budget for investment (70%)
• 70% of owners indicated that they have to stop running
business if the authorities strictly apply the current regulation
• They also indicated that they need more practical criteria for
improvement of SH

Guideline for improvement
Standard of operation (SOP)
Public health
• Unsafely food products
The law/regulation
• Impractical criteria for
small scale Veterinary Sciences
• Salmonella-contaminated
products
Environment • No veterinary services
• Improper waste
management
• Salmonella
contamination in Socio-economics
environment • Limited carrier opportunity
• Low productivity
• Low profitability

Identified major Criteria for improvement
1. Do not slaughter on the floor
2. Separate the clean zone and the dirty zone
3. Clean the slaughterhouse every workday
4. Waste management
5. Protective equipment
6. Storage meats properly

Before study

Currently (after 1st intervention)

Policy advocacy

Success factors
• Our study is integrated in other research projects
– E. g. “development of Pradu-Hangdum native chicken
raising for food safety”
• Economics incentives for change
– New market  modern trade
– New product  safety products
(access to supermarkets increased due to improved hygiene)
• Adapted more feasible law and regulation
• Sustainability

Challenges and next step
Challenge
• Motivation for change  Incentives
• Long term development and evaluation
• How to sustain the development
• How to disseminate the results for wide impact
Next steps
• Evaluation of adapted guideline  feasibility
• Long term monitoring  sustainability
• Disseminate the results  wide impact
• Follow up research

Conclusion
• The current hygienic practices of the small scale poultry
slaughterhouses are poor
• Those slaughterhouses need to improve to address the
current poultry standard regulation
• However, the current regulation is not suitable for small
scale slaughterhouses
• More feasible regulation for small scale poultry
slaughterhouse have been developed and applied in
selected SH, first results are promising
• However, further research is needed before final
conclusions can be given

Acknowledgement
• International Development and Research Centre
(IDRC), Canada
• International Livestock Research Development (ILRI)
• Thailand Research Fund (TRF)
• Slaughterhouses owners
• Department of Livestock Development, Thailand
• Department of Animal Health, Vietnam

EcoZD Project
For more information about the EcoZD project, please visit:
www.ilri.org/ecozd
www.ilriasia.wordpress.com/tag/ecozd