Four tonnes of unhygienic mutton and 1.5 tonnes of rotting beef were seized by officials of the Chennai Corporation on Thursday at the Central Railway Station.
The Corporation had commenced raids on Wednesday, in trains coming from Andhra Pradesh and seized 2,130 kg of rotten meat smuggled into the city for sale. The unhygienic meat from rotting carcasses was seized from parcels transported in the trains.
Officials of the civic body have now started tracing the source and destination of the consignment. As a few of the addresses have been found to be false, officials are yet to identify those responsible for the trade.
One of the processing centres in Chintadripet has been traced, and the health department of the Corporation will issue a notice to the centre. As there are reports of supplies of unhygienic meat to popular hotels too, the civic body is planning to chalk out a detailed proposal to tackle the challenges posed to public health because of this trade.
When the civic body’s health officials tried to destroy the unhygienic meat, some traders resisted. However, the products were finally destroyed at the Kodungaiyur dump yard.
Some of the mutton seized on Thursday was also found to be sourced from Ajmer in Rajasthan, as part of measures taken by popular hotel chains to get the meat at affordable prices.
“The mutton was completely spoilt as the train took two-and-a-half days to reach Chennai. The meat was not certified by a veterinary surgeon of an authorised slaughterhouse,” said an official of the Corporation.
The civic body is likely to take measures tackle this problem by holding a meeting with representatives of hotels. The samples collected on Thursday have been sent to a laboratory of the Meats Department of the Government Veterinary College for an assessment of their microbial count.
Even as civic body officials were conducting raids on the trains, many labourers associated with the illegal trade were supplying the meat products through several alternative routes in the city on Thursday.
The supply points of the meat — structures along the Cooum — have been temporarily shifted to other areas by traders.
