Butchers are playing havoc with the people’s health by selling unhealthy and unhygienic meat and the practice is going unchecked as the officials concerned are reluctant to take any action against them since the butchers bribe them to keep them away from their areas. “Though local administration has fixed prices of different commodities in the markets, there is no solid mechanism to check quality of meat and its retail prices at the shops,” consumers said this while talking to APP.
They alleged that most of the butchers were injecting water into the veins of the slaughtered animals to increase their weight.
“The butchers are selling unhygienic meat in the areas where normally low income groups shop and all their children are suffering from fatal diseases, especially blood pressure and hepatitis,” a doctor said.
The local residents further said the butchers were often found slaughtering the animals in their houses or around their shops instead of slaughtering them in the slaughterhouses which was an unhygienic practice and should be stopped.
“The hygiene conditions at the butcher shops are very poor but the authorities concerned seem least interested in taking action against the butchers,” said Amjad, a government servant.
“The quality of meat at most of the shops is very poor and sometimes the meat is from a sick animal also,” said Amina Mushtaq, a housewife.
“The butchers hang their meat outside their shops and it keeps getting contaminated because of the dust on the road,” a resident of People’s Colony in Rawalpindi Cantonment Area said, adding that such a meat was a major health hazard for the citizens.
“We pay the police and food inspectors every week and that is why they do not come to check the stamp on our meat,” a shopkeeper said.
“Even if I sell the government-stamped meat, I still have to bribe police officials. What is the use of selling legal meat then?” another shopkeeper said.
“If an animal is slaughtered, the butcher attaches a water hose to the heart of the animal. As water is injected into the heart, the animal’s veins swell and the weight increases by up to 20 kilogrammes,” he added.
According to a health expert the meat available in the markets was infected with a number of deadly bacteria and was not fit for human consumption and could cause dangerous diseases like typhoid, pneumonia, urinary tract infection, hemorrhagic colitis and other diseases.
The citizens called upon the administration and health authorities to take strict action against the violators of the rules.
