Rotten meat scandal badly hits Kashmir restaurant industry
Continuing its crackdown on the unsafe meat, the food safety authorities on Sunday seized 340 kg consignment of unbranded and unlabelled meat outside Srinagar Airport after a tipoff by sales tax department, while J&K police on Saturday registered two FIRs against stockist and food sale points for storing and selling rotten and expired mutton items in central district of Ganderbal
More than a month since the rotten meat issue surfaced in Kashmir, hotel and restaurant businesses have been struggling to maintain the public trust with sales plunging to 20-30% of the normal.
Continuing its crackdown on the unsafe meat, the food safety authorities on Sunday seized 340 kg consignment of unbranded and unlabelled meat outside Srinagar Airport after a tipoff by sales tax department, while J&K police on Saturday registered two FIRs against stockist and food sale points for storing and selling rotten and expired mutton items in central district of Ganderbal.
As per official estimates, J&K, mostly the Kashmir Valley’s population of 70 lakh, consumes over 600 lakh kg of mutton annually of which 350 lakh kg is brought from Rajasthan and Delhi.
Officials say that most of the meat is brought in the form of live animals like goat and sheep while a “small portion” was being imported in packaged form, mostly beef, chicken and fish.
Since the beginning of August, Kashmir has been rattled by a series of seizures of unlabelled rotten, unsafe or stale meat or its products meant to be distributed to some eateries of the valley. The confiscation of the meat by authorities was triggered when the food safety authorities found quintals of decayed meat from an industrial estate in Zakoora on the outskirts of Srinagar on July 31.
The recovery has shattered the trust of the local public and many of them have been avoiding restaurants and hotels.
President Hotels and Restaurants Owners Association(HROA) Gowhar Maqbool said that the restaurant industry was facing a major impact of the rotten meat issue. “Unfortunate few people made a mistake and the whole industry, doing its dealings fairly and legally, is suffering now. Our association has 1,200 members in Srinagar and all are bearing the brunt. There are also three times more restaurants who are not our members and are facing the same fate,” he said.
He said that people are avoiding eating out. “They don’t have the confidence. Not only the big names but even small eateries and roadside stalls who would earn hand to mouth are reeling under its impact,” he said.
According to some importers, the unsafe and unhygienic packed meat is bought at ₹160 per kg from some outside states while the mutton and beef rates in Srinagar are ₹700 and ₹400 per kg respectively. Those bringing the meat are unable to store and transport the meat at mandated temperature of -18°C or below.
The issue has also reached Jammu and Kashmir high court which issued notices to J&K government on August 20 after a PIL seeking intervention to prevent sale and distribution of rotten and unsafe meat and poultry in J&K.
Officials of the Food and Drugs Administration said that they have recovered some 12,000 kg of unsafe meat in the month of August after the Zakura recovery.
Firdous Ahmad, state nodal officer, food & drug administration, said that in a major drive they have suspended FSSAI Licenses of nine dealers selling meat, meat products, poultry and sweets. Four of them are operating in Srinagar and five of them are in the southern district of Anantnag.
“Market checking is a continuous process and we have been issuing advisories from time to time,” he said. Srinagar’s prominent barbeque market at Khayam has lost its sheen in wake of the loss of a major clientele base.
“We have lost 70% of our customers to this issue and only a small 20-30% people have returned who have earned our trust over the years,” said president of Khayam Barbeque Association, Bilal Ahmad. “The recovery will take a long time,” he said.
Ahmad said that the food safety authorities and government should make public the names of the dealers and seller who were found in storing and selling rotten meat to clear the names of others.
Backing Ahmad, Maqbool said, “We want the government to take this case to a logical conclusion. Identify those who were involved and book them.”
J&K Police have intensified raids on vendors selling unhygienic meat across Srinagar. The Srinagar police has filed a case in Zakoora incident under sections of 271, 275 and 61(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, dealing with selling of noxious food and negligence to cause diseases.
The issue has also triggered concerns about the halal certification of the packaged meat brought from outside.
Industry experts say that import of frozen meat from outside was very miniscule in Kashmir in comparison to live animals.
All JK Butchers Association president, Khazar Mohammad Regoo, said Kashmir buys around 50 truckloads of live animals every day during the marriage months. “The dealers import some 7,500 animals every day these days at a cost of ₹5 crores. In comparison, the frozen meat brought here will be just 4-5% and that is brought by those people who have no concern about the quality and slaughtering etiquettes,” he said.
The J&K government has come down heavily on food vendors and businesses banning packaged food products without proper and complete label. The government said that people selling substandard meat may face a penalty of ₹5 lakh and a jail term of six years.
