Carcass quality audit - a strategy to improve beef sector in Ethiopia

Abstract

Ethiopia has the largest cattle population in Africa. However, the potential of the sector has not fully utilized. Average carcass weight of cattle, per capita meat consumption and annual volume of meat produced were very low. Experience from developed countries indicates that implementing carcass quality audit would aid to identify quality problems, develop strategies and establish an educational plan to improve carcass quality. The audit has helped in benchmarking carcass quality parameters to quantify the progress of the sector at intervals of time. The purpose of this paper is to develop strategy on beef carcass quality audit and indicates the possibilities of implementing it at beef export abattoirs in Ethiopia.