Madurai meat stalls flout rules, likely to be shifted to outskirts

Health conscious consumers feel that it is contradictory, as hygiene is losing the battle. While doctors have been advising people to maintain levels of hygiene as the first step to good health, meat sold at mutton stalls slaughtered without proper sanitisation raises a serious concern, they said.

R Selvaraj, a consumer in Madurai, said, “The authorities should ensure that meat animals were slaughtered hygienically and the product is fit for consumption. They must also keep a check on prices. Usually, a kilo of mutton was priced at Rs 800, but in recent days, it has gone up to Rs 1,000 a kg.”

According to S Muthukrishnan, president, Madurai City Mutton Retail Merchants Association, except Sundays, mutton stalls are allowed to function as directed by authorities. But meat stalls close to market areas are restricted from functioning fully until further orders. On a daily average, about 600 to 700 goats and sheep will be slaughtered earlier, before the lockdown period and around 2,000 such animals on Sundays. “Though slaughterhouses exist at Anupanadi, which is far off from the city, only forty to fifty meat animals were butchered in a day,” he said.

So far, 300 kilos of meat have been seized for violating instructions. Based on complaints of open slaughtering, actions would be taken, said R Jayakrishnan, Veterinary Consultant, Madurai.

When contacted, M Somasundaram, Designated Officer, Department of Food Safety, Madurai district, said since the slaughterhouse at Nelpettai, where goats and sheep are normally slaughtered in large numbers is located at the city central, is unhygienic and locked down. Now, efforts are on to shift the operations completely to Anupanadi, he added.