The aim of the Veterinary Public Health Unit is to protect and advance human health through the application of veterinary knowledge and skills. The Veterinary Public Health Unit is responsible for the following:
- Development of a national policy pertaining to the production of foods of animal (including poultry and seafood) origin.
- Administration of a comprehensive meat, poultry, and seafood inspection program, the components being:
- Enactment of legislation regulating all aspects of the slaughter and processing of animals intended for human consumption.
- Inspection ante mortem, post mortem, and at further processing of all establishments handling foods of animal origin.
- Assurance that foods of animal origin offered for public consumption are free of drug residues.
- Continuing education programs for all butchers, abattoir personnel, and employees of all food (animal) processing establishments.
- Maintenance of a national zoonosis surveillance and control programme, with particular reference to zoonoses currently endemic in Trinidad and Tobago.;
- Deployment of a fully operational Veterinary Public Health Information System (VPHIS), to facilitate efficacy in data management and analyses; and to foster inter- sectoral collaboration and forward linkages.
- Continuing education of staff in Veterinary Public Health and management principles.
The Unit also provides the following services:
- Inspection
- Abattoirs
- Poultry processing plants
- Further processing (hams, sausages etc)
- Seafood processors in Tobago
- Surveillance - Epidemiological investigations, surveillance and control of zoonotic diseases.
- Yellow Fever
- Bovine tuberculosis
- Paralytic rabies
- Equine encephalomyelitis
- Leptospirosis
- Psittacosis
- Brucellosis
- Training - Continuing training of staff, food plant personnel and Veterinary Medicine students of UWI:
- Technical through COSTTATT program
- Managerial
- Provision of practical course work
- Advisory
- Drug Advisory Committee
- Drug residue testing
Contact Information
Ministry of Health
4 - 6 Queen's Park East
Port of Spain
Telephone: (868)-217-4664 Ext. 13851 - 13858
Email : vetpublichealth@health.gov.tt
