Safe Food, Fair Food: Summary
of findings within lowland goat and
sheep value chains in Ethiopia
Barbara Rischkowsky, Tamsin Dewé, Kristina Rösel,
Multi-stakeholder Workshop for Targeting Action Research on Lowland
Sheep and Goat Value Chains in Ethiopia
Debre Zeit 1-2April 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
 Also focus group discussions
(FGDs) with mothers of young
children
 Topics included animal health,
consumption patterns, food
preparation, and perceptions of
quality and safety of meat and
milk

Results: both sites
 Sheep and goat meat consumption
– Very similar between sites
– Peaks at major national and religious festivals
– Low in intervening periods

Results: both sites
 Risks to safety of sheep and goat meat
– Emergency slaughter and consumption of
diseased animals can occur
– Purchase of meat from informal markets
 Risk mitigation
– Don’t eat animals affected by specific diseases
– Smell, colour and absence of pus/lesions used to
assess quality and safety
– Cooking of ‘suspect’ meat thoroughly

Results: both sites
 Sheep and goat milk consumption
– Consumption seasonal: depends on combination
of lambing/kidding and feed availability

Results: both sites
 Risks to safety of sheep and goat
milk
– Consumption of raw milk
 Risk mitigation
– Smoking milking containers
– Don’t consume milk that is
discoloured or contains blood or
pus
– Processing to butter

Results: Borena
 Sick animals  Deaths

Results: Borena
 Risky food practices
– Consumption of dead animals, even if suspected
of anthrax
– Consumption of milk with sour or abnormal taste
or smell
– Milk is not boiled at Eloheye
– Children given food other than breast milk at
young age (<6 months)
 Risk mitigation
– Meat considered unsafe is trimmed and/or boiled
thoroughly in rural areas
– In town, ‘suspect’ meat is not purchased
– Milk is sieved to remove dirt and hair
 Nutritional issues
– Producers consume more meat and milk than
those at other sites
– Town people do not always have access

Results: Shinelle
 Sick animals  Deaths

Results: Shinelle
 Risky food practices
– Consumption of animals with FMD
or tick-related disease
– Purchase of meat from informal
markets
– Consumption of raw milk
 Risk-mitigating practices
– Only healthy animals slaughtered
otherwise
– Dead animals not consumed
– Urban consumers avoid ‘suspect’
meat
– Meat cooked thoroughly
– Processing of milk into butter

Conclusions
 Meat
– Increased frequency of consumption
compared to other sites
– Especially risky practices (raw meat,
sick or dead animals) in Borena
– Better if all meat and offal is well-
cooked - some loss of nutritional
quality, but large reduction in risks
– Role of informal butchers at both sites
 Milk
– Boiling milk is a simple message to
convey to reduce foodborne disease
– Less consumption whole shoat milk in
towns/cities

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