The Times of India         18.12.2013

Chennai Corporation launches crackdown on shops selling unhygienic meat

CHENNAI: Inspections conducted by the Chennai Corporation's officials on Sunday found that several meat shops in the city are selling unstamped meat to the customers, posing severe health problems.

A corporation team, comprising zonal officers, veterinarians, conservancy officers and health inspectors, conducted raids in 37 meat shops in areas like Villivakkam, Ayanavaram, Thirumangalam and Anna Nagar and seized 270kg of unhygienic meat. The confiscated meat was later destroyed at the Velangadu burial ground.

A senior official in the health department said action would be initiated against those who sold unhygienic meat in the city. "The meat being sold for consumption should come from any of the three corporation slaughterhouses -- in Perambur, Saidapet and Villivakkam -- where the animal is medically examined and approved for consumption," the officer said.

"After slaughtering, the animals are stamped with a seal, which is a foolproof way of letting people know that the meat is safe for consumption. The roadside shops which are selling unstamped meat is unfit for consumption and may cause health problems," the official added.

Sources say animals continue to be butchered in almost all the areas in the city, mainly in the slums in an unhygienic way. But the irony is that the civic body's slaughterhouses are also functioning in the same condition. A recent TOI report had described how butchers work in the Perambur slaughterhouse: The stand barefoot in ankle-deep water mixed with urine, faeces and animal blood.

A modernized abattoir on the same premises, which was completed in November 2011 at an estimated Rs 48 crore, is yet to be opened because of opposition from V Neelakandan, the AIADMK MLA of the Thiru-Vi-Ka Nagar constituency.

The corporation has also been conducting a series of raids to prevent smuggling and sale of rotten meat in the city. Several tonnes of rotten meat have been seized in the recent past from trains coming from Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan.