Officials say that they had conducted a surprise raid at midnight following a tip off that some meat traders supply carcasses to be sold in the capital.[break]
"Dead fowls and goats had been kept hidden in the lower part of the vehicles and were covered to deceive the administration," said Dr Baburam Gautam of Health Department at KMC, adding, "Consumers in the capital would have been fed meats of dead animals had we not detained the vehicles."
The dead goats were giving off foul odor that indicating that they had died or been slaughtered at least two days ago. The KMC handed over the carcasses to administration office, which were later taken to the district veterinary office for postmortem. "Reports showed that the goats had died of pneumonia and other infectious diseases," added Dr Gautam.
Unfortunately, the KMC has not conducted similar raids after that. Gautam said that due to lack of sufficient manpower and budget, the office is unable to continue such types of inspection. "God knows whether such practices have stopped or not," said Gautam.
The KMC, which is responsible to ensure hygienic meat for public, has failed to regulate the meat market despite knowing that the meat sold in capital is unhygienic. Narendra Bajracharya, chief of the department concedes that the KMC has failed to regulate the meat market. He said that lack of cooperation from the meat traders is partly responsible for the office´s failure to check the malpractices in the meat market.
"The butcher shops in the metropolis are always in pathetic condition. We have tried a lot to change the way they sell meat but to no avail," said Bajracharya.
Bajracharya, however, claims that relentless effort of the KMC has brought some positive changes. He said that meat shops have made some improvemnets compared to a few years ago. "These days they cover meats with a net or keep them inside a glass case and the meat traders have started wearing gowns and using d-fridges have been maintained. But that is not sufficient as we can still see flies hovering at the meat shops," he said.
Dr Gautam said that whole channel from shed to mouth should be maintained properly to ensure hygiene. He said that there are huge problems in slaughtering and in processing. "Animals are being slaughtered in illegal way at dirty places in residential areas. Also, butchers have been known to use contaminated water," said Dr Gautam, adding, "Meat traders have not being following scientific slaughtering methods and we, too, have failed to stop such practices." According to him, the hygiene at chicken and mutton markets is good compared to the buff. "People would stop consuming buff, if they saw the slaughtering process," he said.
Dinesh Sahi, chief of Meat Entrepreneur Association (MEA), claims that competition has been rising in the meat market and traders have become more professional about maintaining hygiene these days. Though he accepts that majority of meat traders have not been careful about maintaining hygiene. "We cannot guarantee that all are following hygienic practices. But we are learning from the shortcomings," said Sahi.
He said that as meat business is totally profit oriented, the entrepreneurs should not compromise on public health. He asked the consumers to be aware about the health and refrain from buying meat from shops that look dirty. "We have urged the government to enforce the rules strictly to ensure quality meat," he added.
The KMC is even unaware of the health of animals being slaughtered in the capital. As per the rules, vet doctors should examine the health of animals before slaughtering. Meat of unhealthy animals should not be consumed, as they pose health threat. Dr Gautam said that ailing animals should not be slaughtered and should be treated properly if found diseased. He said that there is no mechanism of conducting health check up of the animals before they are slaughtered.
Doctors said that unhygienic meat poses threat to public health. Contaminated meat, they say, pose threat of typhoid, jaundice, diarrheal diseases, epilepsies, tuberculosis (TB) and other infectious diseases. "If we can control unhygienic meat market, people will be relived from multiple health complications," said Dr Sher Bahadur Pun at Sukraraj Tropical and Infectious Disease Hospital (STIDH), Teku. Dr Pun asked the consumer to think of possible health hazards before consuming unhygienic meat.
KMC to distribute advance equipment to meat traders
In a bid to encourage meat traders to upgrade their profession from hygiene perspective, Katmandu metropolitan City (KMC) has decided to distribute advance equipments to meat traders. The KMC said that five sets of equipments would be provided to select meat traders. The Department of Livestock (DoL), under the Ministry of Agriculture Development (MoAD), will provide the equipment to the metropolis which would then hand them over to meat traders.
Last year, KMC distributed 15 sets of such equipment, which comprises of knives, electric balance, deep fridge and others.
Selling meat on street illegal: KMC
KMC said that stern action would be taken against the traders if they are found selling meat on the streets. KMC said that it has issued an order to its security personnel to arrest those who sell meat on the street.
The metropolis said that selling meat openly on the street is illegal and poses risks to public health. The KMC security personnel in the past had seized meat and equipments from the streets. "We had dumped those meats and also fined the traders," said Dr Gautam. He said that despite repeated discouragements, such practice has not been stopped.
Live bird market abandoned
Live bird market, constructed by the metropolis some two years ago, at Kalimati still remains deserted. The metropolis said that the concept of live bird market was floated to check the business of infected chickens. "We have asked traders to run the business there but no one has shown interest," said Narendra Bajracharya, chief of Health Department at KMC. He said that people could buy healthy chickens from the market if the traders run business there. The office had also planned to appoint veterinary doctors to examine the health of chickens. The KMC had built the market in collaboration with Food and Agriculture Organization.
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