(1.) Dung, Dachung Dalyop
(2.) Tanko, Roger Joshua
(3.) Hassan, Adamu Zoaka (Prof.)
(4.) Muhammad, Maryam
(5.) Iyiola-Tunji, Adetunji Oroye
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Introduction
Nigeria has over 15 million cattle, 49 million sheep and goats, 6 million pigs and 131 million poultry. Out of the given population, about 14% of the cattle, 40% of the sheep, 42% of the goats, 70% of the pigs and 45% of the poultry are slaughtered yearly. Livestock are animals raised primarily to provide food (meat, milk and eggs) for human consumption. However, in the course of processing these primary products, some components considered not fit for human consumption because of one reason or the other are generated. These are collectively referred to as by-products. Ordinarily a by-product is defined as a secondary or incidental product of a manufacturing process. Livestock by-products include body parts of animals suspected of being infected with transmissible diseases, entire bodies of dead animals containing specified risk materials or have been administered with or contain residues of certain environmental contaminants, or catering waste from means of transport operating internationally. Other categories of the livestock by-product include manure and digestive tract content, waste collected from slaughter houses, animals and parts of animals that are not slaughtered for human consumption, blood, hides, skins, hooves, horns, pig bristles and feathers from animals. All these can be put to various uses. Tons of these materials are produced all over the country and a large proportion of all these go waste while they can all be put to some very good uses. The processing, marketing and utilization of livestock by-products hold great economic prospects for Nigeria where large numbers of animals are slaughtered on a daily basis. This article will attempt to document the availability of livestock by-products in Nigeria, their uses, marketing locally and export potentials.
ANIMAL BY- PRODUCT UTILISATION
Animal products and or by products are those secondary products derived from livestock. They are either produced by an animal or taken from the body of an animal. The term is primarily used in relation to diet, particularly for vegetarians, vegans and those concerned with maintaining a Kosher, Halaal, or raw food diet. Although there is debate what constitutes an animal product, the term is generally not applied to products made from fossilized or decomposed animals, such as Petroleum which is formed from the ancient remains of marine animals. Crops grown in soil fertilized with animal remains are rarely characterized as animal products.
Common animal by-products used for food
- Blood, especially in the form of blood sausage
- Broths and stocks are often created with animal fat, bone, and connective tissue
- Carmine also known as cochineal (food dye)
- Casein (found in milk and cheese)
- Civet oil (food flavoring additive)
- Dairy products (e.g., milk, cheese, yogurt, etc.)
- Gelatin
- Honey
- Honeydew (secretion)
- Isinglass (used in clarification of beer and wine)
- L-cysteine from human hair and pig bristles (used in the production of biscuits and bread)
- Lard
- Meat (including fish, poultry, and game)
- Rennet (commonly used in the production of cheese)
- Shellac
- Swiftlet's nest (made of saliva)
- Whey (found in cheese and added to many other products)
Non-food animal by-products
- Animal fiber
- Ambergris
- Beeswax
- Blood and some blood substitutes (blood used for transfusions is always human in origin, though some blood substitutes are made from animal sources. Many diagnostic laboratory tests use animal or human sourced reagents)
- Bone, including antlers, ivory, tusks, bone char, bone meal, etc.
- Casein (used in plastics, clothing, cosmetics, adhesives and paint)
- Castoreum (secretion of the beaver used in perfumes and possibly in food flavoring)
- Coral rock
- Down
- Ejaculate (used in artificial insemination)
- Feathers
- Foreskin (used to treat burns victims)
- Fur
- Gallstones (from livestock for Traditional Chinese Medicine)
- Ivory
- Lanolin
- Leather
- Manure
- Mink oil
- Musk
- Pearl or mother of pearl
- Shellac
- Silk
- Sponges
- Tallow, may be used in food and soap
- Tortoiseshell
- Urine
- Venom (used to produce human and veterinary antivenin)
- Whale oil
- Wool
MAJOR SLAUGHTER HOUSE BY-PRODUCTS AND THEIR USES
In developed countries such as those in Europe and USA all other livestock by products i.e blood, bones, horns, hoofs hair, wool, glands, organs, intestines, stomachs, gut contents, manure are used in feed industries while in developing countries major by products are blood, bones, horns, hoofs and manure, the remaining are used for food.
By product | Uses | |
1. | Blood | Liquid blood: used as a source of pharmaceuticals as albumin for the glue, textile and dye industries Dried blood: used as blood flour, blood meal for animal feed and as fertilizer. |
2. | Bones | Used as animal feed, fertilizer, manufacture of combs, buttons cutlery handlers, glue, gelatin, tallow and ornaments. |
3. | Hoofs and Horns | Used as meal, fertilizer, gelatin and glue, manufacture of combs, buttons, hairpins and articles of tourists attraction including souvenirs. |
4. | Hair and Wool | Used in the manufacture of brushes, yarn, fabrics and fibers |
5. | Glands and Organs | Used for pharmaceuticals |
6. | Intestines | Used to make sausage casings, musical instruments/strings and surgical ligatures |
Other uses of livestock by products are:
• Hides Leather, most valuable of all by-products is used in making shoes, jackets, seat covers,
footballs, baseballs, soccer balls.
• Fats Oleomargarines, soap, candles, animal feeds, and fertilizers.
• Bones, hair, hooves Refining sugar; case hardening steel; crochet needles; gelatin; bone china;
film for photography, X-ray, and T.V.; carpets, glue, and pectin.
• Body chemicals Detergents, pesticides, industrial oils, coolant for tires, foam for use on
runways.
• Blood Cancer research, stock feed, and shoe polish.
• Glands Insulin, adrenalin, heparin, thyroid tables, and hormones
• Manure Nutrition for growing food and plants, methane.
One of the major constraints to livestock product trade in Nigeria includes the slow pace of an animal resources development strategy. There is a lack of an effective animal health control strategy. There is also a lack of efforts to improve animal production in a sustainable way. For example only modest efforts have been made so far in the areas of improving animal genetic resources, feed resources and the integration of livestock and crop production. Technical barriers and a lack of Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) standards also have implications on the international trade in animal products in Nigeria. The lack of training and awareness creation on private-public partnerships (PPP) for key players and stakeholders interested in participating in livestock product marketing is also a major challenge. The lack of a credible certification system and quality assurance procedures for animal products also mitigate against a profitable and successful international trade in livestock products. There is also a lack of information on livestock pricing, other animal data analysis and dissemination.
In order to overcome these challenges and enable livestock farmers and traders to benefit from the lucrative domestic and international markets for livestock products, there is a need to increase the capacity of both government and private health care providers in prompt disease diagnosis. There is also a need to identify novel means for traders to access credit or the establishment or expansion of existing private practices. There is a need to improve on the control and surveillance of transboundary animal diseases and improvements in disease reporting and health information systems. Improvements in animal production in a sustainable manner are also necessary. There is also a need to protect Nigerian markets from injurious GMO products and from the dumping of animal products. The development of quality assurance procedures and standards to meet both food safety and SPS requirements for trade are also required. Some have argued that there may be a need for Nigeria and other African countries to develop their own SPS codes for inclusion into WTO, OIE and the codex Alimentarius. Quality assurance standards need to be established for veterinary laboratories to conform to international standards. The lack of market intelligence on African and other international markets can be overcome by the creation of linkages between producers in areas of key demand and production through livestock information, communication and knowledge management. There is also a need to promote the formation of regional trade blocks and trade associations to diversify animal product marketing.
INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL TRADE IN LIVESTOCK BY-PRODUCTS
Trade is an act of exchange of goods that must be transported from one place to another. Livestock rearing, slaughter and processing generate enormous by-products which are somewhat classed as wastes. It is regrettable that in most less developed countries; the approach toward the slaughter of animals is unimaginative, leading to wasteful losses of a whole range of valuable by-products. The erroneous belief that costly machinery, highly skilled staff and fully equipped laboratories are necessary to produce useful livestock by-products leads to a paradoxical situation; those countries where the need for proteins and minerals for man, livestock and the soil is greatest are the ones which make least use of them. Examples of this is seen in less developed countries are the practices of dumping blood while importing blood meal, exporting bones while importing costly cattle lick, throwing offal away while importing proteins, and selling hides and skins while repurchasing the same as finished leather.
By-products of livestock production can be handled as an item of commerce for international and local market. A wide range of these products include semen, embryos, manure, blood and blood products, hatchery wastes, lard and rendered fats, horn, hide and skin, animal casings, etc can serve as a source of foreign exchange. Analysis of international markets for these by-products can conveniently begin with the standard concepts of supply and demand for the commodity. A country may produce low priced products due to favorable resource endowments (leading to low costs) or because of low domestic demand relative to domestic supply. This country would produce more than domestic consumers buy. Therefore, the excess supply of this country can be viewed as the supply of exports onto the world market.
Trade restrictions on livestock by-production
Import and exports of animals and animal products represent an important and significant contribution to the global economy – but they can also bring with them the risk of animal diseases. Imports are therefore subject to strict controls at the border under international trade restrictions and rules. International trade is often subject to complex government negotiations.
Key facts and figures on livestock
In the recent past, nearly 1,000 disease outbreaks worldwide have been reported on and assessed for risk and possible impact on international animal and public health and trade status. Recent outbreaks include foot and mouth disease in East Asia and HPAI H5N1 in Eastern Europe and Africa. The number of seizures of illegal imports of Products of Animal Origin (POAO) in 2009/2010 totaled 21,267, approximately a 3% increase compared with 2008/2009, largely through refocusing deployments to target the high risk routes for illegal livestock by-products carried by incoming travelers more effectively. Industry data for 2008 places the value of livestock and product exports at £1.52 billion – this includes exports to Europe & beyond. More generally, there is an overall expanding market trend across most products, e.g. meat exports have increased by £14.5 million, breeding pig exports increased by £3 million, and bovine semen exports increased by half.
INTERNATIONAL AND LOCAL TRADE IN LIVESTOCK BY-PRODUCTS
Trade is an act of exchange of goods that must be transported from one place to another. Livestock rearing, slaughter and processing generate enormous by-products which are somewhat classed as wastes. It is regrettable that in most less developed countries; the approach toward the slaughter of animals is unimaginative, leading to wasteful losses of a whole range of valuable by-products. The erroneous belief that costly machinery, highly skilled staff and fully equipped laboratories are necessary to produce useful livestock by-products leads to a paradoxical situation; those countries where the need for proteins and minerals for man, livestock and the soil is greatest are the ones which make least use of them. Examples of this is seen in less developed countries are the practices of dumping blood while importing blood meal, exporting bones while importing costly cattle lick, throwing offal away while importing proteins, and selling hides and skins while repurchasing the same as finished leather.
By-products of livestock production can be handled as an item of commerce for international and local market. A wide range of these products include semen, embryos, manure, blood and blood products, hatchery wastes, lard and rendered fats, horn, hide and skin, animal casings, etc can serve as a source of foreign exchange. Analysis of international markets for these by-products can conveniently begin with the standard concepts of supply and demand for the commodity. A country may produce low priced products due to favorable resource endowments (leading to low costs) or because of low domestic demand relative to domestic supply. This country would produce more than domestic consumers buy. Therefore, the excess supply of this country can be viewed as the supply of exports onto the world market.
Trade restrictions on livestock by-production
Import and exports of animals and animal products represent an important and significant contribution to the global economy – but they can also bring with them the risk of animal diseases. Imports are therefore subject to strict controls at the border under international trade restrictions and rules. International trade is often subject to complex government negotiations.
Key facts and figures on livestock
In the recent past, nearly 1,000 disease outbreaks worldwide have been reported on and assessed for risk and possible impact on international animal and public health and trade status. Recent outbreaks include foot and mouth disease in East Asia and HPAI H5N1 in Eastern Europe and Africa. The number of seizures of illegal imports of Products of Animal Origin (POAO) in 2009/2010 totaled 21,267, approximately a 3% increase compared with 2008/2009, largely through refocusing deployments to target the high risk routes for illegal livestock by-products carried by incoming travelers more effectively. Industry data for 2008 places the value of livestock and product exports at £1.52 billion – this includes exports to Europe & beyond. More generally, there is an overall expanding market trend across most products, e.g. meat exports have increased by £14.5 million, breeding pig exports increased by £3 million, and bovine semen exports increased by half.
Bibliography
Mann, I. (1978). Animal by-products: Processing and utilization. FAO Agricultural Development Paper No. 75. Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, Rome.
Mann, I. (1978). Animal by-products: Processing and utilization. FAO Agricultural Development Paper No. 75. Food and Agriculture organization of the United Nations, Rome.
