Nada Shahada
This investigation documents weak oversight of abattoirs in Jordan resulting from a shortage of vets, and some farmers evading veterinary inspections, particularly outside the capital. This has led to the spread of “unregulated slaughter” which is putting at risk the health and lives of consumers.
Just a few hours after Issam Abdullah and his wife had eaten some animal products from a street vendor, they began suffering severe pains in their joints and muscles, accompanied by a general fatigue and weakness. The 46-year-old Issam explains what they ate: “Our misery began when I bought some cheap milk and cheese from a street vendor. I had no idea how things would turn out.”
The couple soon realised something was amiss, especially since they both had the same symptoms. So, they went and had the necessary tests done, which showed that they had both contracted brucellosis. This is a serious bacterial infection spread by consuming contaminated animal products. Issam and his wife remember that the last food they had shared was the milk and cheese he had bought from the street vendor. The doctor who treated them confirmed that contaminated dairy products were the source of the infection.
As well as them both suffering joint and muscle pains, Issam’s wife also miscarried before the end of the second month of her pregnancy.
Jordanian Ministry of Health figures show 424 recorded cases of poisoning in 2021. And many such cases are often treated at home, according to the ministry, which means these publicly released numbers are inaccurate.
Dr Anas Sobh, a specialist in the Jordanian Ministry of Health, explains that brucellosis is a bacterial infection caused by various types of brucella bacteria. Brucellosis produces fever and generalised symptoms and occurs as a result of contact with sick animals, or from consuming dairy products or meat contaminated with the bacteria.
While accompanying officials from Amman Municipality’s Slaughterhouse Control Department on more than ten field trips in the capital, this reporter found evidence that farms were violating licensing and safety conditions by having no vet present to inspect carcasses. Various parties admitted to that there were deficiencies and weaknesses in the control processes and that the necessary standards and conditions were not being applied. They also admitted widespread instances of unregulated slaughter, which is poisoning and killing consumers in Jordan.
Another victim, Hajja Amina Jaber, died after eating contaminated meat. She suddenly collapsed and was rushed to hospital. “The doctors told us that she had canine cysts,” says her daughter, Enas.
This was the first time Enas had heard of such a disease, which the doctor told her is transmitted through contaminated meat or poorly washed leaves. One of the cysts had burst inside Hajja Amina’s body, and hospital doctors were unable to save her.
Medical research has shown that canine cystic disease is transmitted by dogs living in livestock breeding areas. Sheep and goats become infected when they eat grass contaminated with eggs found in dog faeces. These cysts are then transmitted through cooked meat, liver and kidneys.
The director of the Amman Municipality abattoir, Dr Shadi Al-Othman, insists that this is the only safe place for slaughtering livestock and poultry, since sheep and poultry are examined both before and after they are slaughtered, in line with the regulations in force.
But Al-Othman says that these measures are not applied in places where unregulated slaughter takes place, which are proliferating outside the capital. “There are a huge number of diseases common to both humans and animals, and some people resort to unregulated slaughtering of animals to avoid having to undergo inspection and having their animals destroyed,” Al-Othman adds. He points out that both the health and agriculture ministries have a device to test animals for the residue of veterinary medicines, while any unstamped animal carcass is considered to have undergone unregulated slaughter.
Up to the date this report is published, we have received no response from the Ministry of Agriculture to enquiries as to why the device for examining veterinary drug residues has not been used, despite it being in the ministry’s possession since 2015.
Former Secretary-General of the Ministry of Agriculture Dr Ibtihal Al-Khraisha confirmed that most sheep farms are unlicensed, and therefore have no responsible vet present. She also pointed out that even licensed farms are not classified, and they require both to be monitored and to have their licensing data updated. She argued that monitoring alone is insufficient and that violations take place on some farms.
According to Dr Al-Khraisha, such violations include indiscriminate use of veterinary medicines; failure to have a vet present on the farm; and livestock diseases not being diagnosed and properly treated. And this is despite monitoring of pharmacies and veterinary clinics being carried out by ministerial committees.
Dr Al-Khraisha said that the ministry was in the process of amending directives governing farm licensing. A committee had been formed to put new instructions in place, including for “biosecurity”, to reduce the use of antibiotics and other drugs.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Jordan has 1,767 licensed chicken farms and 150 licensed sheep farms. As of the date this report is published, these farms are covered by 48 supervisors, who are either doctors or agricultural engineers specialising in animal production.
A study by microbiologist Dr Salam Al-Ramini found that veterinary medicines are administered to poultry at random, and without attention being paid to the safety period before slaughter. This is the time taken by the animal’s body to clear itself of antibiotics, so that they are not passed on to humans.
Al-Ramini says: “On my visits to poultry farms across many governorates, I’ve found that farmers are putting medicines, especially antibiotics, into the drinking water of poultry routinely and with no controls on dosage. The animals are then just sent off to the abattoir for slaughter, with no thought given to the necessary safety period.”
Dr Al-Ramini says it is definitely possible for antibiotics to be transmitted from poultry to their eggs, and then on to the consumer, ultimately weakening the body’s immune system.
This reporter personally witnessed more than ten inspections of farms made by Dr Khaldoun Al-Hawadi, Director of the Department of Health and Occupational Control, which is also responsible for looking into cases of unregulated slaughter. During these visits – to areas of Al-Madouna, the municipality of Al-Muwaqqar, and to farms around Amman Municipality – he found not a single vet, either on licensed or unlicensed farms.
According to Al-Hawadi, these farms, though located within governorates that make up the capital, do not come under Amman Municipality. He says that it is not the municipality that is responsible for them but the individual towns like Sahab, Na’ur, Al-Muwaqqar, Al-Jizah, Husban and Um al Basateen. This is because these towns, which used to come under the municipality, chose to take on monitoring responsibilities, because of differences in fees, taxes and legal procedures.
Al-Hawadi pointed out that the governorates that come under the Ministry of Municipal Affairs are Irbid, Mafraq, Madaba, Kerak, Tafila, Ma’an, Aqaba, Jerash, Ajloun, Zarqa, and Salt. These municipalities are authorised to inspect meat at local abattoirs and approve it for human consumption. After this stage, authority passes to the Jordan Food and Drug Administration.
Dr Al-Hawadi said that the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for abattoirs and farms located outside the borders of municipalities.
Amman Municipality reports having less than 20 vets for the two slaughterhouses in the capital. A total of over 400,000 sheep were slaughtered in the Amman abattoir in 2023. All abattoirs are government owned, with the exception of two that belong to private companies.
This reporter has discovered that farms in these municipalities slaughter their animals themselves in the regular way, and send the meat direct to butcher shops, cutting out the abattoir. This is because they know that animal carcasses handled outside the abattoir are not inspected by a vet.
Dr Khaldoun Al-Hawadi says that this does not apply to dairy farms, which may be supervised by vets. He also confirms that farms slaughter their sheep themselves and send the meat on to merchants and butcher shops.
Among the tasks for which the municipality is responsible are conducting medical examination of meat and reporting on its suitability for consumption; ensuring that meat is seen and approved as suitable by the Department of Slaughterhouses; examining and destroying meat that is unfit for human consumption; and taking legal measures against those violating slaughterhouse procedures. All sectors agree that the Ministry of Agriculture is responsible for monitoring licensed abattoirs and also following up on unlicensed ones.
According to Al-Hawadi, over the last six months (the first half of 2024) two inspections per day resulted in legal action being taken against those violating the system governing abattoirs. During this period a total of 2,123 inspections were made, resulting in 445 violations being detected. In 71 cases the meat was destroyed – a total of 23,000kg – and nine warnings were also issued.
Unregulated slaughter leads to the emergence of diseases common to both humans and animals, such as foot-and-mouth disease, and lose antibiotic resistance, a matter of concern both locally and globally.
The head of the Inspection and Monitoring Department in Amman Municipality, Dr Majdi Al-Rahahla, points out that unregulated slaughter is a very common practice in Jordan. “According to the directives governing abattoirs, it is prohibited to slaughter livestock and poultry except in designated premises.”
Al-Rahahla outlines the pattern of both licensed and unregulated slaughter: “Large licensed farms are usually subject to veterinary health supervision, while unregulated slaughter takes place in butchers shops, homes, or small farms.”
The head of the Inspection and Monitoring Department in the Amman Municipality denies that veterinary medicines are dispensed haphazardly and emphasises that vets are the only people authorized to examine meat carcasses and approve them for human consumption.
Dr Al-Rahahla points out how important it is for vets to be there, to ensure that slaughtered animals are safe and free of any residues of veterinary medicines, which could pass on to humans via eggs or meat: “Much of the drug residue is caused by a build-up in carcasses, which is then transmitted to humans.”
In response to this reporter’s enquiries, the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) stated that inspections are the responsibility of the regional directorates affiliated to the JFDA. These are entrusted with the task of monitoring butchers, by enforcing health conditions covering the display, storage and safety of meat on sale, in accordance with the risk assessment system approved by the JFDA.
In a further response, the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA), added that butcher shops are inspected once every four months, and that the administration’s laboratories test for residues of veterinary drugs in food products of animal origin, under its regular specialised monitoring programmes. The JFDA said that over the past year, 2023, drug residue monitoring programmes had been carried out on eggs, milk, fish, and poultry, and the results had been sent via the Risk Analysis Division to the relevant authorities, including the Ministry of Agriculture, so each could take the necessary action.
In 2015, Jordan acquired two veterinary drug residue testing devices from the US Department of Agriculture. The Jordanian Ministry of Agriculture was given one of these devices, and the other went to the JFDA, according to a source who asked to remain anonymous. But despite the two devices being in the hands of the competent authorities, up to the date this report is published neither of them has ever been used. Informed sources confirmed this, but gave no convincing reason why the devices had not been used.
Sameh Al-Faqeh, a member of the Jordan Veterinary Association, confirmed that unregulated slaughter indeed takes place, and even described it as a common “phenomenon” in areas far outside urban centres, despite measures that have limited it inside cities: “Agricultural areas are not usually subject to monitoring and so diseases affecting animals there are not picked up.”
Al-Faqeh cited a case of liver flukes found in a carcass that was being prepared for cooking: “These worms, which can be seen with the naked eye, are a threat to the health of the consumer. If the carcass is not handled properly and under supervision inside the abattoir these types of diseases can spread to consumers.”
Liver flukes affect both animals and humans and produce cysts on the liver, lungs, brain, and heart. And they can cause sudden death if they burst before they are discovered. These worms are widespread in areas where sheep are bred, and they can infect humans if they eat food contaminated with liver fluke eggs (Fasciola hepatica).
According to the vet Sameh Al-Faqih, weak oversight by government institutions stems from a lack of manpower, in comparison to the number of farms and facilities in Jordan that need to be monitored.
Malik (not his real name) is a farmer who was faced with a loss of ten thousand dinars when his cattle died from foot-and-mouth disease, after he had treated them with medications not suitable for this disease in livestock. Malik says: “They were wrongly diagnosed by one of those parasites on the veterinary profession. It cost me a lot.” After Malik gave the cattle the wrong medicines, they started dying one by one. When he realized this, and before all the cattle had died, Malik slaughtered the remaining ones and sold them quickly.
The striking thing is that Malik readily admits having had an unlicensed farm in the Ain Al-Basha area for years, with over a hundred head of cattle.
Vet Sameh Al-Faqeh refers to a significant step taken by abattoirs in remote areas. They begin slaughtering animals in the early hours of the morning, so that by the time the monitoring officials arrive, the abattoir has finished the job.
Al-Faqeh bemoans the fact that the main problem is that the law governing abattoir practice is not being applied. He blames the Ministry of Agriculture for this and adds: “Just imagine, in Madaba a sheep farmer is able to own a veterinary pharmacy… it’s a disastrous situation.”
Al-Faqeh insists that the vet is the only one capable of identifying diseases in livestock before and after slaughter: “After slaughter, they are either fully cleared for consumption, or a specific part of the carcass is destroyed, or else they are destroyed completely.” He warns that there are some diseases, like tuberculosis, that require the whole carcass to be destroyed.
This reporter saw with her own eyes how an owner of a slaughtered animal in Al Ain removed and destroyed parts of the carcass that indicated disease, and then sold the rest, while knowing it was infected.
“Maybe once a month, depending on when they’re free,” declared Dr Issam Hawa, Chief Veterinary Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture, explaining how periodic visits to abattoirs are managed. “But there are no specific times. On the other hand, if there are medical cases, they may visit daily.”
This happens despite the fact that the institutions who should be monitoring farms – the agricultural directorates – are responsible for ensuring that their vets enforce health requirements to keep premises free of diseases.
So what about accountability? Does the supervising official have the administrative power to stop violations inside abattoirs? “Yes, if we have to,” says Dr Hawa. “And we can call for help from the environmental police.”
Dr Hawa confirms that the law stipulates that there should be one vet for every hundred head of cattle on a single farm. He thinks that the problem facing this sector is uncontrolled dispensing of medicines. “There are violations taking place, and unqualified people are giving out drugs randomly. So we really need to raise awareness about this.”
Former board member of the Jordan Veterinary Association Dr Yasar Al-Khitan acknowledges that owners of some farms that come under the Ministry of Agriculture, but are outside Amman Municipality, are deliberately evading veterinary inspections, which certify suitability of meat for human consumption.
Al-Khitan described the veterinary profession in Jordan as a free-for-all, with a huge number of non-specialists performing autopsies, making diagnoses, and prescribing medicines. In his view this is a result of “weak oversight.”
Dr Al-Khitan warns of the danger of eating meat from carcasses unfit for consumption. “Residues present in the bodies of these animals may be carcinogenic. The whole sector is in chaos.”
This investigation was produced with the support of ARIJ
