The Kochi Corporation has approached the city police with a request to register a case against the person who sold decomposed meat in the city.
A squad of the Health Wing of the corporation had seized around 1,000 kg of rotting meat, marketed as “tsunami meat,” from a peeling shed in Eda Kochi last week.
The squad had also taken into custody a pickup van and a deep freezer used for transporting and storing the meat, which was unfit for human consumption.
The officials had been tracking the movement of the meat vendor for quite some time following information of the poor quality meat being supplied to some hotels and bakeries in the city. The meat was reportedly brought to the city from Karnataka and Tamil Nadu during the early hours of the day, officials said.
The civic authorities collected information on the owner of the vehicle from the Regional Transport Authority. It was found that the vehicle was registered in the name of the person who was suspected to be behind the illegal meat sale, said the chairman of the health standing committee, T.K. Ashraf.
The details of the owner of the vehicle, along with the notes on the stale meat had been handed over to the Palluruthy police for initiating action. The statement prepared by the Health Wing regarding the seizure was also provided to the authorities, he said.
Moreover, the civic authorities are planning to submit a complaint to the Food Safety Authority for initiating legal action under the Act.
A senior official of the corporation had held discussions with the Food Safety Commissioner in this regard. A complaint will be filed with the authority on Wednesday, he said.
It was suspected that the low-priced minced meat procured from the neighbouring States was being sold to city hotels for more than a year.
The accused needs to be interrogated for obtaining the details of the hotels and bakeries which had been purchasing the meat from him, Mr. Ashraf said.
