There is every possibility that you may be having meat unfit for consumption on the dining table with slaughter houses in the city having a free run in the absence of any regulatory mechanism.
The wide disparity in the quantity of meat sold through numerous meat stalls and the number of cattle heads slaughtered at the Kaloor slaughterhouse of the Kochi Corporation turns spotlight on the ever growing illegal meat sale in the city.
Only 80 to 100 heads of cattle are slaughtered at the Kaloor slaughterhouse under the supervision of a veterinary surgeon of the corporation. Or at least that’s what official records state.
“Going by that only about 8,000 to 10,000 kilo meat will be available for sale. However, the actual demand may be anywhere between 15,000 to 20,000 kilos or even more,” said Dr. Acty George, veterinary surgeon.
Veterinary doctors admitted that illegal animal slaughter is rampant in places like Mattancherry and North Paravur, where a minimum 100 cattle heads each are butchered daily. But there are no anti-mortem and post-mortem inspections of animals butchered by authorized veterinarians as required by the law.
Shockingly, the health wing of the Corporation lacks even the basic data on the number of licensed meat stalls under it. The fact is that none of the 60-odd traders issued licences by the Corporation a few years back have renewed it since then. Health Inspector T. K. Beena said that it would be a few more days before the data from 22 circles under the local body would be ready.
V. N. Sivasankara Pillai, senior environmental scientist, blamed the authorities for their failure to act against the big lobby involved in meat sale in the city. “The government and the local bodies are creating a smokescreen by holding raids while turning a blind eye to guidelines set by the Union government on how to run slaughter houses and meat stalls,” he said,
The medical community has already sounded the warning bell against consumption of unhygienic meat. Dr. Abraham Varghese, senior physician and former president of the Kochi chapter of the Indian Medical Association, said that it would cause gastro-intestinal problems. The toxins in stale meat will also damage the internal organs, he said.
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