ISO STANDARDS OF MEAT, POULTRY MEAT AND MEAT

PRODUCTS
It is an organization setting international standards, established in 1947 to
standardize such things as units of measurement and the meanings of
technical terms. It has set the following international standards for the meat
of all types and their products:

Determination of total ash

Determination of nitrogen content
Determination of moisture content
Determination of total fat content
Determination of total fat content
Definitions of living animals for slaughter Porcines
Determination of chloride content
Measurement of PH
Determination of nitrate content
Determination of hydroxyproline content
Definitions of living animals for slaughter Ovines
Definitions of living animals for slaughter Horses
Determination of L-(+)- glutamic acid content
Detection of polyphosphates
Determination of starch content
Determination of chloramphenicol content
Detection of coloring agents
Determination of total phosphorus content
Determination of starch and glucose contents1

1
(http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_catalogue/catalogue_tc/catalogue_tc_browse.htm?
commid=47880)

POULTRY INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN

The poultry industry is one of the largest industries in the world due to
increasing demands of eggs and poultry meat throughout the world.
However, Pakistans poultry industry is facing a lot of problems and
challenges. Major problems in poultry industry can be eliminated by following
the instructions given to farmers by poultry scientists and by adopting some
precautionary measures.

EDUCATION OF POULTRY FARMERS

The factors which are needed to be considered for improvement in poultry
industry include collaboration between research institute and the poultry
industry. If research workers and poultry farms owners have a meeting, share
their experiences, and farmers get guidance from them by taking short
training courses on various aspects of poultry farming, then basic learning
about poultry farming would be understood by famers, which one is missing
in poultry industry workers right now.
Poultry meat is an important protein source. Its quality is relevant to the
quality of life of birds. Food for chicken comes from many sources including,
land marine, plants and animal products. If we provide nutrient-rich feed to
poultry birds and keep them healthy by keeping their housing clean and
disinfected, we can have optimal disease-free, healthy meat. Although many
factors are involved in getting the good growth rate and size in result such as
breed, gender nutrition, feeds, timely proper vaccinations and dry clean
housing, but most of the time it has been seen that farm workers are
responsible for disease in the flocks.
The sources of diseases they bring include dirty hands, unhygienic
equipment, footwear and vehicles, and improper handling of infected and
injured birds.
To minimize such risks, there should be authorized entries into farms, use of
disinfected equipment, and hygienic food and water for chicken. The use of
antibiotics and other drugs for poultry should be properly analyzed and then
used on the chickens. Birds should be provided the suitable bedding such as
sawdust, husks etc. Stress level in chickens can be reduced through a fearfree environment.
Farms should be cleaned every day. Sick birds should be handled properly,
working condition of ventilation systems should be checked at all times.

The poultry industry can be better and more profitable if it is operated

scientifically and by better understanding of farmers. 2

MEAT INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN

Meat industry in Pakistan is in its developing phase. The export of meat (beef,
mutton, and camel) has increased from $ 08.54 million (2010-11) to $123.61
million in 2011-12 which show an increase in meat export of 13.9 percent. We
can fulfil the ever increasing meat demand inside the country and can earn a
handful foreign exchange by exporting the meat as free of disease. Dairy
animals are also used as meat animals. When a dairy animal has spent her
productive life and becomes uneconomical for milk production then she is
used as a meat source. Male calves of dairy animals and dairy bulls when no
further required for breeding purposes are also utilized for beef purposes. 3

PROBLEMS FACED BY MEAT INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN DUE TO

LACK OF KNOWLEDGE OF FARMERS:
The countrys livestock is suffering from diseases and weight loss due to
fodder shortage in the rain-hit areas of upper Sindh, according to official
sources. The lives of hundreds and thousands of livestock and poultry are at
risk in rain-affected areas due to water-borne diseases.
It is further added that the foot-and-mouth disease, skin diseases, mosquito
bites and shortage of fodder were the major reasons for sickness of animals,
with goats mainly suffering from them.4
Infrastructure is also repeatedly mentioned as the problem due to its limited
nature. The availability of animal medicines and the staff to administer these,
and transport and handling facilities, the shortage or unavailability of cold
storage facilities and slaughtering/processing facilities are the examples of
the infrastructure problems that are faced by meat industry of Pakistan. 5
2 http://www.dawn.com/news/725810/poultry-industry-problems-and-solutions

3 https://www.facebook.com/PakistanLivestock
4 http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-3-136685-Livestock-suffers-fromdiseases-due-to-fodder-shortage
5 http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/ac448e/ac448e07.htm

In the past few years, Pakistan has lost a number of its meat markets to its
prime competitor i.e. India due to innovative approach of India towards its
meat industry.6
In order to solve the issues, specialized meat networks and training programs
should be introduced in order to provide awareness to the famers about the
various diseases, health conditions, strategies and techniques which are
necessary to ensure the quality of meat products and for the better health of
the goats, buffaloes and other domesticated animals. The meat producers in
Asia and Africa are the ones which face the most number of challenges in
comparison to the ones in EU and America.

Furthermore, the meat sectors in Pakistan should be given due attention by

the policy makers and scientists. In order to ensure the betterment for all,
policy makers and tycoons should take some measures for changing the lives
of the farmers in the developing countries. The meat producers should also
change their attitudes and efforts in managing the quality of the products
and the welfare of all the animals on their farms. 7

ISO STANDARDS OF DAIRY AND DAIRY PRODUCTS

The international standards of dairy products set by ISO are mentioned below:
Determination of fat content.

Guidance on sampling.

Determination of salt content.

Determination of the refractive index of the fat.

Determination of fat acidity.

Determination of total phosphorus content.

Determination of citric acid content.

Determination of moisture, non-fat solids and fat contents.

Determination of copper content.

Enumeration of colony-forming units of yeasts and/or moulds.

6 http://thepoultryguide.com/poultry-farming-in-10-developing-countries/
7 http://thepoultryguide.com/problems-of-small-scale-poultry-farmers/

Determination of iron content.

Determination of lead content.

Detection of Salmonella spp.

Determination
contents.

of

calcium,

sodium,

potassium

and

magnesium

Definition and evaluation of the overall accuracy of alternative

methods of milk analysis.

Determination of the benzoic and sorbic acid contents. 8

DAIRY INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN

In Pakistan, livestock include cattle, buffalo, sheep, goat, camels, horses,
asses and mules. Milk and meat are among the major products of the
livestock industry. Other useful products are wool, hair, bones, fat, eggs,
hides and skins.9 Pakistan is among the top five milk producing nations.
Pakistan has the capacity of 33 Billion liters producing capacity. 60% of milk is
sold commercially in Pakistan. These all matters come under the supervision
of PDDC Pakistan dairy development company.
Among milk products come cream, butter, cheese, powder milk, concentrated
sweetened or flavored milk, yogurt, lassi.10
The dairy industry faces multiple challenges and this is the main reason of
less development of dairy industry in Pakistan. Pakistans huge animal
population of 50 million suffers from low productivity compared to global
players although it is quite reasonable in comparison to the rest of Asia.
The milk production in Pakistan is dominated by small and marginal
landholding farmers and landless laborers. The smallholding farms suffer from
different problems such as low animal productivity, poor animal hygiene, lack
8(http://www.iso.org/iso/home/store/catalogue_tc/catalogue_tc_browse.htm?
commid=47878&published=on)
9 http://www.pakdairyinfo.com/introduction.htm
10 http://www.slideshare.net/ZeeshanAzam/dairy-industry-of-pakistan

of water availability, old dairy farming practices and also lack of new animal
breeding methods.

PROBLEMS FACED BY DAIRY FARMERS AND THEIR SOLUTIONS

The major cause of low productivity is due to imbalanced feeding which is
practiced according to the farmers experience who are without any training
or knowledge. Pakistan faces shortages of fodder and water two to three
times a year.
The major challenge is to upgrade dairy farmers by solving their productivity
and farm management problems, and at the same time increasing the
number of commercial farms. This will support the farmers to collaborate
directly with consumers and ultimately would become less dependent on the
middlemen. Thus it will improve access to formal market mechanism.
This is required to enhance profitability and improve quality. With improved
productivity and profitability, there will be more investment in farming which
will solve the issues related to milk shortage. This can be done through
initiating research work, educating of farmers, training vets, promoting high
quality milk, improving breed, facilitating credit financing to dairy farmers
and formalizing the industry.11

Education of farmers regarding, vaccination, nutritional and reproductive

problems is required to avoid huge losses in dairy sector. 12
Govt. with the assistance of different organizations shall initiate the
preliminary awareness program for milk producers and personnel involved in
the collection and transport and retail of milk to train them as necessary and
have appropriate skills in the areas listed below:
1. Health of animals
2. Use of veterinary drugs.
3. Manufacturing and use of food of chicken (more specifically fermented
feeds).
4. Herd management.
5. Hygienic milking.
6. Storage, handling, collection and transport of milk (cleaning of storage
tanks, temperature requirements, sampling procedures, etc.);
7. Milk selling at shops and Processing in Dairy Plant.
11 http://www.tbl.com.pk/tetra-pak-dairy-hub-initiative-a-community-dairydevelopment-programme/
12 Review Dairy Industry in Pakistan: A Scenario

8. Microbiological, chemical and physical hazards and their control

measures.13
Lastly, trainings and skill development programs for small holders, especially,
for women, should be carried out regularly to improve livestock production. 14

13 Code of hygienic products of milk and milk products

14 Current issues and future prospects of dairy industry in Pakistan