Food safety: the other side of a vet’s work

Joyce Thaiya when she spoke to Seeds of Gold in Nairobi on April 14 2016. PHOTO | ANTHONY OMUYA

What you need to know:

  • Dr Joyce Thaiya is a veterinary surgeon at the Ministry of Agriculture.
  • According to her, to be a vet, you do five years of intense university course adding that veterinary medicine is a tough but great profession.
  • She is involved in development of policies and standards for food safety, facilitation of trade by inspection and certification of imports and export of foods of animal origin.
  • The career is open, having many different disciplines leaning towards medicine.

What is your work as a veterinarian?

It entails dealing with prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and disorders of all animal species both domestic and wildlife. Also, my work deals with veterinary public health, which involves applying knowledge of veterinary science to protect and improve human health.

What is your typical day like?

My day varies because activities are determined by my annual and weekly work plan. However, I am involved in development of policies and standards for food safety, facilitation of trade by inspection and certification of imports and export of foods of animal origin especially meat, milk eggs and honey.

I further involve in advising on design and construction of food processing facilities such as slaughterhouses and milk processing facilities to ensure products processed are safe.

I also undertake inspection and licensing of these facilities and surveillance for transportation of meat and meat products.

To empower those handling meat, I am part of a team that trains persons, especially those in the meat industry in food safety practices and value addition, and generally food processors on food safety control systems adoption.

What does it take to study veterinary medicine?

At least a C+ in Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics/Physics and English in KCSE. At A-level or its equivalent, one needs two principals and one subsidiary pass, one of which must be in biology and others from chemistry, physics and mathematics. Then you do five years of intense university course.  Veterinary medicine is a tough but great profession.

What is your advice to a student who wants to take a career in veterinary medicine?

First, they must love the profession and animals in general. They must be ready to work long hours and interact with people in the profession in various fora.

To practice veterinary medicine at whatever level, either as a vet surgeon or a veterinary para professional, one must be registered with the Kenya Veterinary Board.

Are there courses at diploma or certificate level in this field? What are the entry requirements?

There are certificate and diploma courses in the several public and private Animal Health Training Institutions (AHITI) licensed by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training Authority, and in universities. 

Entry requirements may vary with different institutions, but generally, you need a grade C in KCSE and C in biology and chemistry for diploma and a C- and above for certificates course.

If one had acquired minimum requirement for university entry, one may advance to degree level after either certificate or diploma courses.

Other than in the livestock department, where else can one work?

The career is open because one can work as a clinical practitioner, surgeon, pathologist, parasitologist and obstetrician. There is also research, veterinary pharmaceutical, training, livestock production, feed formulation and epidemiology.

One may also specialise in specific areas like small animal medicine and surgery, large animal medicine and surgery, equine (horse) medicine and wildlife medicine.

Does being a veterinarian pay well?

Pay is much more than in monetary terms. Achieving personal satisfaction and enjoying the work pays much more.

Pay is dependent on hard work, persistence and determination. It also depends on the kind of practice, where it is located, whether in public or private and whether employed or self-employed, among other factors.

Veterinary profession is a good profession, there are opportunities for both self-employment and employment in a wide range of sectors.

What challenges do you face in your job?

Working with people especially in meat industry with little appreciation of food safety hence they engage in many unsafe practices. There is little support by private sector in promoting food safety.

Then there is a lot of travelling away from my family, sometimes for long periods.

What do you love most about your work?

I love seeing people adopting practices that assure food and feed safety. It is very encouraging that there are nice slaughterhouses and other food processing plants coming up and Kenyans are able to access markets for their animal products locally and regionally.

What don’t you like about your work?

There is minimal government funding for activities in veterinary public health and generally in livestock sector limiting what we can do as a directorate.

What have been your successes in your work?

Getting my Master’s degree 20 years after my first degree and training stakeholders and seeing them implementing the skills gained.

What have been the lowest moments in your work?

When I felt I unfairly missed a promotion about 20 years ago.