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infectious diseases that have serious effects on their health
status. Zoonotic infections can be easily transferred from
slaughterhouse workers to processed meat and vice versa.
This is of serious public health concern.
The drive to strengthen standards in food quality and
safety among animal processing industries is gaining
increasing interest worldwide. However, the health management system seen in most slaughterhouses in developing
countries still suffers inadequacies. Although slaughterhouse operations are known to be hazardous, with high
numbers of cases of occupational injuries and hazards
experienced in recent times, they employ a huge workforce
(24). Several factors account for the poor conditions of the
slaughterhouses that lead to a poor working environment
and increased risks of foodborne diseases (4, 17, 30).
Occupational health risk is a persistent challenge in
most developing countries and could be heightened by
being associated with food safety risks in food processing
settings such as the slaughterhouse. Slaughterhouse workers
could be exposed to both infectious and non-infectious
occupational hazards. The cattle slaughterhouse is regarded
as the most dangerous slaughterhouse, with work-related
injuries occurring at any point during slaughter and meat
processing (15). Slaughterhouse operations are expected
to be guided by occupational health management laws. The
International Labor Organization (ILO) encourages and
supports national structures and guidelines in occupational
health and safety among member nations. Nigeria is expected to uphold such laws by applying occupational health
frameworks and policies on a national level across various
occupational sectors, including slaughterhouses. However,
strict adherence to this directive from ILO has not been
observed in Nigeria. It is therefore imperative to survey the
status of occupational health systems in Nigerian slaughterhouses. The objectives of this study were therefore to
assess work-associated injuries/accidents and responses of
slaughterhouse workers, determine knowledge and awareness of slaughterhouse workers with regard to sanitation,
personal hygiene and meat inspection, and assess associations between demographic factors and knowledge about
food safety risk in the slaughterhouse in relation to work
injuries in Ilorin, Northcentral Nigeria.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study area
This survey was carried out in five slaughterhouses in
Ilorin, in the Northcentral geo-political region of Nigeria. Ilorin, located in the Savannah agro-ecological zone
called the derived savannah, was selected owing to the
intense animal slaughter at its various slaughterhouses; for
instance, cattle slaughtered daily in the various slaughterhouses sampled are usually in the range of 200 to 250
(unpublished data). Typically, Nigerian slaughterhouses
are licensed by the government and constructed with a de-

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Food Protection Trends July/August

sign that allows mainly for the floor dressing of carcasses,
especially in cattle processing. The facilities provided for
slaughter operations are usually at a sub-optimal level and
are further stressed by the high number of slaughterhouse
workers using them. The slaughterhouse workers have
unrestricted access to every part of the slaughterhouse
premises and are usually in contact with the slaughtered
animals. The main food animals processed at the Ilorin
slaughterhouses are cattle, sheep, and goats. Current population data shows that Ilorin has a population of 814,192
inhabitants and is ranked among the most densely occupied cities in the country (see: http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/nigeria-population/).
Study design and targeted populations
A cross-sectional survey was conducted from December
2018 to March 2019. The targeted populations were butchers (animal slaughterers and processors at the slaughterhouses), meat traders (traders who buy and sell slaughtered
food animals and animal products at the slaughterhouses),
cleaners (those who help during the slaughter process as
well as cleaning the slaughterhouse and environment), and
drivers (workers who transport live animals, processed
carcasses, and meat to and from the slaughterhouses). These
categories of workers were targeted because they are mostly
involved in the carcass processing line at the slaughterhouses (from the market, through transportation to slaughter
and processing). Thus, the same survey questions were
administered to them all.
Sample size and sampling
The size of the sample used was derived according to the
random sampling formula for cross-sectional studies (35).
For the survey, power was set at 88.2% (22), and a precision
of 5% was used at the 95% confidence level (1.96) to attain
a sample size of 160. A contingency of 25% was allocated to
account for the possibility of non-response, to give a sample
size of 200. Five slaughterhouses were randomly selected
from the eight available in the Ilorin metropolis. At least
30 slaughterhouse workers were randomly selected from
each of the five slaughterhouses. A total of 260 questionnaires were distributed between December 2018 and March
2019. At least 50 respondents were approached within each
month for questionnaire administration.
Design of survey instrument, administration and data
collection
The survey instrument used was comprised of structured
questions partitioned into seven parts. These questions
were developed after a literature search (4, 6, 8, 11, 23).
The first section consisted of questions on the demographic
characteristics of participants (gender, pregnancy status,
age, marital status, education, job type, years of experience
and name of slaughterhouse). The second part asked about

http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/nigeria-population/ http://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/nigeria-population/

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