Safe Food, Fair Food: Summary
of findings within sheep value
chains in the Ethiopian Highlands
Barbara Rischkowsky, Tamsin Dewé, Kristina Rösel,
Multi-stakeholder Workshop for Targeting Action Research on Small
Ruminant Value Chains in Ethiopia
Addis Ababa, 14th-15th March 2013

Safe Food, Fair Food
 Protecting the health of poor consumers
and
 Safeguarding livelihoods of poor livestock
keepers and other value chain actors

Background
 Looking at risks to food safety and
nutrition within sheep and goat value
chains
 Trying to identify opportunities for
further research and intervention
 Ultimate goal is to ensure adequate
intake of safe and nutritious foods, while
protecting the livelihoods of poor value
chain actors

Activities
 Rapid assessment conducted
alongside rapid VCA at each site
 Participatory rural appraisals
(PRAs) with producer and
consumer groups at Doyogena,
Horro and Menz
 Focus group discussions (FGDs)
with mothers of young children
at Doyogena and Horro
 Topics included animal health,
consumption patterns, food
preparation, and perceptions of
quality and safety of sheep meat

Results: all sites
 Animal health
– Disease was an important
constraint on production at
all sites
– Respiratory disease,
‘bottle jaw’ and diarrhoea
were major causes of
morbidity and mortality
Photo credit: Grit/Suzanne Cox

Results: all sites
 Sheep meat consumption patterns
– Peaks at major national and religious festivals
– Low in intervening periods

Results: all sites
 Risks to safety of sheep meat
– Emergency slaughter and consumption of
diseased animals occurs
– Consumption of raw or lightly cooked meat
or offal occurs
 Risk mitigation
– Smell, colour and texture used to assess
quality and safety
– Cooking ‘suspect’ meat thoroughly
 Nutritional issues
– Lack of meat in the diet

Results: Doyogena
 Sick animals  Deaths

Results: Doyogena
 Risky food practices
– Emergency slaughter and consumption of
animals with grain overload
– Albendazole residues in meat due to use
during fattening
– Fresh meat stored until next day
– Consumption of dulet
 Risk-mitigating practices
– No consumption of animals with other
diseases
– Careful slaughter practices to avoid
contamination
– Lesions are trimmed from meat and the
remainder is boiled
– Meat that might be a health risk is boiled

Results: Horro
 Sick animals  Deaths

Results: Horro
 Risky food practices
– Consumption of lightly cooked meat
 Risk-mitigating practices
– Avoiding trauma and stress to the
animal before slaughter
– Careful butchering to keep offal and
muscle meat separate
– Meat that might be a health risk is
boiled
Photo credits: ILRI/Apollo Habtamu

Results: Menz
 Sick animals  Deaths

Results: Menz
 Risky food practices
– Emergency slaughter and consumption of
animals with specific diseases
– Eating of dulet and lightly cooked meat
 Risk-mitigating practices
– Meat is consumed quickly after slaughter,
or preserved
– Dark or foul-smelling meat is not
consumed
– Meat that might be a health risk is boiled

Conclusions
 Interventions in animal health are
required
 Risky consumption practices occur at
all sites but are often mitigated by
thorough cooking
 Better if all meat and offal is well-
cooked - some loss of nutritional
quality, but large reduction in risks
 Infrequent meat consumption probably
represents greater risk to nutritional
status than to food safety
 Improving the economic status of
households is the first step towards
increased meat consumption

Safe Food, Fair Food
 Tamsin Dewé, Consultant
tamsindewe@gmail.com
 Kristina Rösel, Project Co-Ordinator
k.rosel@cgiar.org
All photo credits to ILRI/ Tamsin Dewé unless otherwise indicated