Saturday, September 13, 2008 City earns P45T daily from new slaughterhouse
THE City Government in Iloilo City is earning P45,000 to P50,000 a day from fees collected at the new Double AA slaughterhouse for slaughtered hogs only.
City veterinarian Tomas Forteza bared this after the new abattoir started operation more than two months ago for hogline of more than 200 heads daily capacity.
The amount collected from fees is expected to go up as soon as the full capacity of 400 heads of hog is reached before the end of this year and the cattleline is installed for bigger animals.
Forteza said the fees cover slaughtering according to weight of the hogs, pigpen of P10 per head and other smaller fees. The slaughter fee ranges from P155 per 50 kilograms up to P515 for 200 kilograms of slaughtered hogs.
Forteza said the slaughterhouse follows the regulations set by the National Meat Inspection Commission and the Department of Agriculture (DA) calling for clean and safe meat to consumers with its top-of-art facilities and equipment, including all tiled working tables and sufficient water supply.
The slaughterhouse maintains 40 workers including 20 trained butchers, three of whom are women who have undergone trainings on scientific meat butchering. It takes no more than five minutes for each pig to be butchered, slaughtered, cleaned and released to the trader usually with meat stalls at the central and terminal public markets in the city.
Forteza also said that the new slaughterhouse is eyeing meat-processing investors to locate in Iloilo City since there is enough space within the more than three hectares facility at Barangay Tacas, Jaro district.
The slaughterhouse is surrounded by concrete fence and meat traders have to wait for the release of their slaughtered pigs starting at 9 p.m. until 2 a.m. (Lydia C. Pendon)
