Safe Food, Fair Food: Summary of findings within sheep value chains in the Atsbi and

Abergelle districts of the Ethiopian Highlands

Barbara Rischkowsky, Tamsin Dewé, Kristina Rösel,

Multi-stakeholder Workshop for Targeting Action Research on Atsbi sheep and Abergelle goat Value Chains in Tigray, Ethiopia

Mekelle, 19-20 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 each site

Focus group discussions (FGDs) with mothers of young children at Abergelle Tigray and Atsbi

Topics included animal health, consumption patterns, food preparation, and perceptions of quality and safety of sheep meat

Results: all sites

Animal health– Disease accounted for 30-

40% all deaths– Major diseases differed

between Abergelle and Atsbi– Starvation and predation also

major causes of death

Results: all sites

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

Results: all sites Risks to safety of sheep and goat meat

– Emergency slaughter and consumption of diseased animals occurs

– Reported link between meat-eating and stomach pain +/- diarrhoea: intolerance or foodborne disease?

Risk mitigation– Don’t eat animals affected by specific diseases– Careful slaughter practices– Smell, colour and texture used to assess quality and

safety– Cooking of ‘suspect’ meat thoroughly

Nutritional issues– Lack of meat in the diet

Results: all sites Sheep and goat milk consumption

– Very important in Abergelle– Atsbi is predominantly meat site– Consumption seasonal: depends on combination

of lambing/kidding and feed availability

Results: all sites

Risks to safety of sheep and goat milk– Some consumption of raw milk

(Atsbi: children drinking directly from the animal)

Risk mitigation– Don’t consume ‘suspect’ milk– Milk usually boiled– Processing to butter, yoghurt,

cheese

Results: Abergelle Amhara Sick animals Deaths

Results: Abergelle Tigray Sick animals Deaths

Results: Abergelle Risky food practices

– Association between milk consumption and ‘malaria’: coincidence of seasons, or unrecognised zoonotic disease?

Risk mitigation– Meat considered unsafe is trimmed and/or

boiled thoroughly– Smoking of milking containers

Nutritional issues– Men given highest quality meat– Highly seasonal milk consumption– Women don’t drink whole milk: unlikely that

butter and other milk products are making up the nutritional deficit

– Drinking milk associated with earlier onset of puberty in girls

Results: Atsbi Sick animals Deaths

Results: Atsbi

Risky food practices– Some consumption of raw meat– Children drinking milk directly

from the animal Risk-mitigating practices

– Small ruminant milk not a major part of the diet?

– Milk otherwise boiled– Processing of milk into yoghurt

and butter

Conclusions

Meat– Risky consumption practices occur at

all sites but are often mitigated by cooking

– Better if all meat and offal is well-cooked - some loss of nutritional quality, but large reduction in risks

– Infrequent meat consumption probably a greater risk to nutritional status (especially Abergelle) than to food safety

Conclusions

Milk– Abergelle: potential for increasing milk

production, possible association between milk and disease, and gender imbalance in benefits/risks indicate need for further work

– Atsbi: drinking raw milk is a potential health risk for children. How frequently does this practice occur, what are the disease risks, and what could be done about it?

Safe Food, Fair Food

Tamsin Dewé, Consultant tamsindewe@gmail.com

Kristina Rösel, Project Co-Ordinatork.rosel@cgiar.org

All photo credits to ILRI/ Tamsin Dewé unless otherwise indicated