Abstract
A questionnaire survey on the factors affecting the motivation and work attitudes of Finnish veterinary meat inspectors was conducted. Traditional meat inspection on the slaughtering line and in the emergency department took up most of the weekly work time (15.8% and 15.8%, respectively). Emergency slaughtering (29%) and general hygiene control (29%) were considered the most important tasks of veterinary meat inspectors. Assurance of meat safety (68%) was cited as the most important single reason for meat inspection. Veterinary meat inspectors were of the opinion that they do not play an important role in the training of slaughterhouse personnel, although they considered training to be a very important means for promoting hygienic work methods among workers. Three orientations of the respondents toward meat inspection and slaughterhouse operations were revealed from the survey: hygiene, education, and emergency slaughter work orientation. Meat inspection veterinarians may feel isolated from the other personnel responsible for maintaining quality and hygiene. The orientation and possible isolated position of veterinary meat inspectors should be given more attention in both the basic undergraduate and postgraduate training of veterinary meat inspectors.
Keywords: slaughterhouse, working environment, factor analysis, veterinary meat inspectors, workers, questionnaire survey
Sammanfattning
Frågeformulär sändes till alla finska köttbesiktningsveterinäner, som år 1990 arbetade varaktigt i slakteriet. Frågorna behandlade arbete och arbetsmotivation och veterinärernas uppfattning om hur slaktcriarbetare godkänner hygieniska arbetsmetoder. Av 50 veterinärer i 36 slakterier, svarade 41 (84%) från 30 (83%) slakterier. Enligt svaren tog den traditionella kött kon tro Ilen i slakteri linjen (15.8%) och arbetet med nödslaktenet (15.8%) största delen av arbetstiden. Nödslakteriet och den hygieniska kontrollen var de viktigaste uppgifterna enligt svaren. Köttets och köttprodukternas livsmedel hygien i ska kvalitet var den viktigaste orsaken till köttbesiktning. Veterinärerna var av den åsikten att dom själva inte spelade någon viktig roll i undervisningen av arbetare, men ansåg ändå att undervisning var mycket viktigt vid införandet av hygieniska arbetsmetoder.
På basen av svaren kunde 3 huvudslut B satser gällande köttkontrollen och slakthusarbetet dras. Den första var att den hygieniska nivån på arbetsplatsen inverkar positivt på arbetsmotivationen. Den andra var att de svarande i hög grad värdesätter utbildning och den tredje att de värdesätter nödslakteriet mera än deras andra uppgifter. Det verkar som om veterinärerna är något isolerade från den övriga personalen med ansvar för kvalitet och hygienen i slakteriet. Dessa fakta borde man ta större hänsyn till både i skolningen och fortutbildningen av veterinärerna. Veterinärerna borde vara så hygieniskt orienterade som möjligt, de har ju ett stort lagstadga! ansvar för hygien i slakterier samt i skär- och kallutrymmen.
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Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank the Academy of Finland for providing financial support for this study.
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