By Hirra Azmat
Srinagar, March 21: Kashmir Valley doesn’t have a microbiological laboratory to test the quality of meat products taken by the consumers.
Jammu and Kashmir figures among the most mutton and chicken-consuming state in India, with the state, as per the Animal Husbandry Department, annually requiring 10 crore kilogram of chicken alone.
Similarly, 25-30 truckloads of sheep, each carrying 160-170 animals, are imported into Kashmir on an average daily.
According to a laboratory test report of Animal Husbandry’s Poultry Department, chicken samples collected from the markets of Srinagar show “high levels of salmonella bacterial contamination”.
Yet, there is no microbiological laboratory in the Valley to test the imported meat.
An official of Food Safety Department said, “There is no analytical laboratory to ensure superior hygiene, quality, and meat safety. Retailers sometimes sell dead animals, and there is no way for us to know the state of meat.”
In an article, Veterinarian and founder of Truevet Biosciences, a Srinagar-based biotechnological company, Dr Fayyaz Ganie, said that all over the world, a comprehensive approach to meat safety is applied from the farm to the customer.
This includes inspection of meat before and after slaughter, testing for germs, and detection of organic traces, he said.
However, a similar broad-based approach to the safety of meat and poultry products is lacking in the Valley.
Stakeholders have repeatedly raised concern over the absence of slaughterhouses in Kashmir where this integrated process could be followed.
Due to unavailability of modern slaughterhouses, butchers across the Valley slaughter their animals at their private facilities under “no supervision”.
A Food Safety Officer said it was imperative to check on raw meat and poultry in the Valley.
“Unfortunately, the job of ensuring the safety of livestock origin food has been handed over to municipal authorities, who rarely visit any slaughterhouse to check the safety standards,” he said, wishing not to be quoted by name.
“The testing service will ensure that meat and poultry products are manufactured to their standards, stored and shipped under proper conditions, and comply with the regulations of their destination market.”
Assistant Food Commissioner, Food Safety Department, Hilal Ahmad Mir said the government was aware of the issue.
“The project of setting up the microbiological laboratory is in the pipeline. We are working on it and hopefully, it will be functional within a month at Dalgate,” Mir said, adding that the cost of the project was Rs 14 crore.
