Doubts over quality of meat

Doubts over quality of meat
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Highlights

Come Sunday, many people rush to nearby meat or chicken outlets. Hence, 1,000 goats and sheep are slaughtered at Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) abattoir alone. Unofficial slaughtering of these animals maybe three times more than that as most parts of the city have no abattoir facility. Likewise, there is no count on exact number of chicken culled for sale on Sunday.

Vijayawada: Come Sunday, many people rush to nearby meat or chicken outlets. Hence, 1,000 goats and sheep are slaughtered at Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) abattoir alone. Unofficial slaughtering of these animals maybe three times more than that as most parts of the city have no abattoir facility. Likewise, there is no count on exact number of chicken culled for sale on Sunday.

Highlights:

  • Only a few people are aware that the non-vegetarian food they consume at home or in any restaurant is not verified and certified
  • As most of the merchants in the city usually make local arrangements for slaughter
  • Unlike VMC abattoir, there is no authority to certify and clear the animal for slaughter. If the health officer at abattoir orders the merchant to remove a portion of the meat to maintain quality, the merchant is supposed to remove the portion to ensure health of the consumer. But similar arrangement is not there anywhere in the city

Only a few people are aware that the non-vegetarian food they consume at home or in any restaurant is not verified and certified as good for health. As most of the merchants in the city usually make local arrangements for their slaughter.

Unlike VMC abattoir, there is no authority to certify and clear the animal for slaughter. If the health officer at abattoir orders the merchant to remove a portion of the meat to maintain quality, the merchant is supposed to remove the portion to ensure health of the consumer. But similar arrangement is not there in where in the city.

“Even chicken is drugged for quicker growth. All such things cannot be verified either by seller or consumer as crowd at chicken shop is such that everybody tries to leave the place at the earliest with their portion of chicken,” says K Manohar, a realtor.

A large portion of meat and chicken is also used by restaurants and push cart eateries who sell biryani and Chinese varieties of food. Consuming contaminated food is another cause for diseases.

“Another problem is stored food. We don’t know whether we are getting fresh non-veg food or not. Even if we get stale food, it is beyond our control to stop its sales,” says Asifa, a housewife.

As far as VMC’s health department is concerned, “We have no power to control food served at food outlets,” said an official. “Even though civil supplies department can take action it is not serious about the issue,” said another officer.
“Better one must ask oneself whether the non-veg food is healthy,” quips T Venkat, who purchased chicken from an outlet like many others.

By Noor Shaik

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