Kochi: After
the state government lifted the ban on the sale of beef imposed after
the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease, hotels in the district have
resumed serving beef dishes.
The Kerala Hotel and
Restaurant Association (KHRA), Ernakulam district committee has
announced that hotel owners will ensure the quality and safety of meat
they serve. However, in the absence of a strict monitoring system to
check abattoirs, meat shops and illegal wayside vendors, the quality of
meat can't be ensured and the public has to be careful, warn veterinary
and health experts.
Though the state government has partially
lifted the restriction on transporting of animals from other places, the
corporation has not yet restarted its abattoir at Kaloor. “We are yet
to get any instruction from the government on resuming slaughtering of
cattle,” said corporation health committee chairman T.K. Ashraf.
Normally,
around 150 cattle are slaughtered at the Kaloor abattoir every day.
This is the only abattoir in the city with a licence from the
corporation. The number will go up to nearly 600 during the festival
season.
As unauthorised slaughtering is rampant in many parts of
the city, especially in Mattancherry and Cheranalloor, restaurant owners
won't be able to ensure the quality of the meat they serve.
But
KHRA district president M.P. Shiju said that hotel owners will buy meat
from shops licensed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India.
“If the earlier system of sealing the meat after a veterinarian's
certification is made mandatory, people will be able to ensure quality
of meat.
Though several illegal slaughterhouses and meat shops are
operating without any inspection and medical examination of animals,
hotel owners have been strictly warned not to buy meat from them," said
the KHRA district president.
Meanwhile, Ashraf of the
corporation's health committee said that no case of foot-and-mouth
disease affected cattle has been reported in the slaughterhouses
functioning in the city.
No comments:
Post a Comment