Rhinos are on Act’s consumable list, but fear not

Many who stumbled across the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development’s proposed update of the Meat Safety Act may have been concerned to find rhino, giraffe, elephant and emu on the list of meat that can be consumed.

The proposal, published on 28 February to amend Schedule 1 of the Meat Safety Act of 2000, significantly expanded its list of animal species to 75 animal orders, families, subfamilies or genera, some of which are endangered and exotic.

But this does not mean that unsuspecting meat eaters could find critically endangered rhino steak on their plates. Professor Arno Hugo from University of the Free State food science division explained the list of species was extended to ensure that if they were consumed, the meat would be inspected to ensure hygiene and safety.

After realising that the proposed update was being misinterpreted, the department released a statement in April to clarify misconceptions. The date for public comment on the draft was extended to 30 June.

South Africa’s Meat Safety Act exists to promote meat safety and the safety of animal products, establishing and maintaining national standards in abattoirs, regulating the import and export of meat, and to create meat safety schemes.

However, it does not distinguish which animals are to be slaughtered.

“The implication of this is that animals that are not listed in the schedule may be slaughtered without any regulatory oversight in terms of meat safety.

“The department and competent provincial authorities can, therefore, not enforce the legislation on animals not listed.

“Therefore anyone can slaughter such an animal without conformity to any standards,” the department said.

The update acknowledged that animals included on the list could be listed as threatened species, “and therefore their slaughter for human and animal consumption must be in line with the relevant conservation provisions”.

“It may, for example, happen that a game farmer is granted a permit to allow an international trophy hunter to hunt a rhino in South Africa. A trophy hunter would not be interested in the meat,” Hugo explained.

“To prevent the meat from going to waste, it may be better to utilise it for human consumption. That is probably why it is listed under the Meat Safety Act.

“Under this Act, there is the insurance the meat will be safe for human consumption because it needs to be inspected. It is unlikely rhino will be harvested in large numbers for general meat consumption,” Hugo added.

Decisions on which animals it was legal to slaughter “lies outside the mandate of the Meat Safety Act”, the department stated.

A trophy hunter will not be interested in the meat