ROTTEN MEAT SEIZURES: North Kashmir residents demand revival of slaughterhouse inspections

Baramulla, Aug 10: Following the recent seizure of large quantities of rotten meat, chicken, and fish, the residents of north Kashmir have urged the administration to revive the decades-old practice of inspecting slaughterhouses to ensure the sale of healthy and hygienic meat.

A few decades ago, sheep were slaughtered at designated slaughterhouses across the districts where municipal council employees would personally monitor the process.

They would ensure the animal was alive before slaughter and stamp the carcass to certify it had been slaughtered properly.

This practice, residents say, ensured that no dead or diseased animals entered through the meat sellers.

However, the practice has long been abandoned. Now, officials stamp meat after it has already been slaughtered and brought to meat sellers shops, raising concerns over the possibility of dead animals being passed off as fresh meat.

“No one knows the actual condition of the slaughtered sheep,” said Farooq Ahmad, a local resident.

“There’s always a chance that a dead animal might have been slaughtered as there is no monitoring in place across most districts in Kashmir.” Across the north Kashmir, slaughterhouses no longer exist as they did in the past, and many meat sellers now slaughter animals at their own facilities without oversight from officials.

Bashir Ahmad, a local resident, called the current system “unethical and unacceptable,” “It makes no sense for an official to put a stamp on meat after slaughter, at the seller’s shop.”

Locals here have urged the authorities that restoring the old system of on-site inspections would be a strong safeguard against the sale of unfit meat.

"The quality control is extremely important. We are paying for the hygienic meat, however, the authorities need to ensure that hygienic meat is sold and for that the old age practice of slaughter house monitoring need to be revived, " said Muhammad Akbar, a resident of Khawjabagh Baramulla.