With Eid Al Adha approaching and a heat wave hitting several areas of the kingdom, the National Office for Food Safety (ONSSA) has published a series of recommendations on handling the sacrificial animal and meat to avoid health risks and spoilage.
On Facebook, the office shared expert advice videos and animated content explaining proper meat handling on Eid day, from slaughter to freezing.
Abdelghani Aazi, Director of Food Products Control, says that cutting up the carcass requires basic food safety measures to preserve meat quality.
Aazi stresses the need to carefully check the meat first, especially the liver and lungs.
He explains that the liver should have a normal pink color, with no cysts, spots, or parasites, and the lungs should be free of grey marks or signs of disease.
If the issue is minor, the expert suggests removing only the affected parts and using the rest. But if infections or parasites are widespread, the entire organ should be discarded.
After slaughtering, skinning, and checking the organs and carcass, the meat should be hung in a clean, well-ventilated, and cool place, away from any source of contamination, and left to dry for no more than five hours, the expert adds.
Cutting comes next, either at home or by a butcher.
The expert stresses that the meat should be divided into small pieces so it cools properly in the fridge or freezer.
If a butcher handles the job, the carcass should be properly covered and quickly transported for cutting.
Once cut, ONSSA calls on households to store the meat in the fridge at 3°C or less for up to five days, or in the freezer at around -18°C using food-safe bags.
It also calls on them not to overload the fridge or freezer and to leave space between bags so the meat freezes properly and stays safe.
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