The Food Hygiene section  plays a pivotal role in protecting the health of the public by ensuring that food and water for human consumption are safe and comply to the highest national and international standards. Consequently, food and waterborne diseases  communicable to man ( zoonosis)  are  effectively monitored and controlled.

Mandate

The mandate of Food hygiene section is to monitor abattoir hygiene  and  conduct quality control testing of meat and meat products to ensure compliance to standards stipulated by the Livestock and Meat Industries Act of 2007, international standards and our trading partners health standards.  Since the section mostly conducts tests for trade purposes, the majority of samples submitted to the section are from three  major export abattoirs, mainly Lobatse  and Francistown Botswana Meat Commission  (BMC) as well as the  Gaborone based  private  export abattoir specialising in ostrich meat and meat products. This service will soon be extended to other meat industry export establishmnets.

However, microbiological testing is also conducted for individual customers subsequent to securing a written  contract with BNVL.

Type of samples submitted to the section for testing

Samples submitted for testing include meat ( beef and ostrich)  and meat products ( meals and tallow) surface and carcase  swabs, water  and various canned meat products.    

 Tests conducted by the Food Hygiene section

As many as 21 different  tests are conducted in the section. Out of these,  five  have already been accredited with SANAS against ISO standard 17025: 2005. The rest are in being prepared for accreditation with the same organisation. All the tests in use are either ISO standard methods or derived from  standard text books  and manuals as such  have already undergone a primary validation.

The tests are conducted  to achieve two main objectives of abattoir hygiene and quality control

1. Abattoir hygiene monitoring

In order for Botswana to  successfully compete for global  meat markets, the national meat  processing plants  must comply with national and international  standards of hygiene.  Consequently, the section conducts tests  to ensure compliance of  surfaces ( tables, equipment, utensils, knives among others ) to acceptable  microbiological standards ( Codex Alimentarius). Routine tests conducted to monitor abattoir hygiene include: Total viable count at 30 degree celcius and Coliform/ Escherichia  coli count.

The section also ensures that water used in abattoirs for the production of meat and meat products  is certified safe  by testing  water samples according to EU Council  Directive  98/83  which stipulates the microbiological specifications for water destined for human consumption.  The water used in abattoirs is routinely  checked for the presence of  indicators of faecal pollution namely coliforms, Escherichia coli and Enterococcus species of bacteria using validated test methods. An additional  test  to detect and enumerate the presence of  sulphite reducing Clostridia is carried out once a month to monitor abattoir water supplies.

2. Quality control testing

Various tests are conducted on food and feed stuffs to check for compliance   products with the customers microbiological specifications. High quality meat products conforming to the  customer’s stipulated microbiological specifications  are able to  compete successfully on the international markets.

Tests conducted on meat include: enumeration of  total viable count, enumeration and detection of  Coliform / Escherichia coli, coagulase positive Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli O157, Salmonella species, Lactic acid bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae,  Faecal streptococcus , Clostridium perfringens. While carcase swabs and meat pieces are screened for the presence of Salmonella species,  meat products such as meals and tallow are tested for the presence of  Bacillus anthracis, Salmonella species  and neurotoxic Clostridia.

Commercial sterility tests are  routinely conducted on canned beef products submitted from BMC abattoir in Lobatse.

How can I obtain the service?

All export approved meat processing establishments have access to the service. Requests from other establishments or authorities can be submitted with the laboratory and when the capacity is available, samples may be processed at a cost.

Do municipal and private abattoirs have access to this service?

These establishments have access to this service through their local meat inspectors. 

Costs of Services from food hygiene laboratory