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.
