The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 05 November 2010, by Im Navin
MONG Reththy Group plans to invest US$1.5 million to $3 million to build Cambodia’s first modern slaughterhouse in Phnom Penh next year.
Mong Reththy, local tycoon and senate member, said the new abattoir would ensure meat quality and provide sanitary conditions in which to kill animals. He said Cambodia needed a modern slaughterhouse to maintain people’s health.
“Our neighbouring countries already have modern slaughterhouses, so we have to.”
But he warned the slaughterhouse would not be built until next year because there were not enough pigs and cows in the country to support it.
He called on farmers to raise more pigs to meet demand.
“Building a slaughterhouse for only imported animals would be useless, because we are still insecure about whether those animals would get ill or not - even though they are examined by veterinarians,” Mong Rethy said. Currently, about 1,000 animals a day are brought to market in Phnom Penh.
Ministry of Agriculture production and veterinary service chief Keo Phal said though Cambodia did not yet have any modern slaughterhouses, traditional facilities had been developed to ensure public health.
“We have veterinarians in slaughterhouses to examine meat for people. We welcome this plan because it also is our long-time plan,” he said.
Sok Touch, head of the Ministry’s anti-infection department, said the slaughterhouse went along with the deal between the government and the World Health Organisation to fight and prevent infectious diseases.
“Recently we faced many problems, such as blue ear and foot-and-mouth disease. All of these are infectious diseases that can transfer from animals to humans, so the standards [of] slaughterhouses can help us fight them,” he said.
