Kathmandu, September 21

The government’s inspection team has found that a majority of slaughterhouses in the Valley, especially in Lalitpur district, are operating below standards.

A joint monitoring team led by State Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Ram Kumari Chaudhari today conducted surprise inspection of five slaughterhouses in Lalitpur. Of them, four were found to be operating without complying by the legal standards.

The four slaughterhouses were the major suppliers of buffalo meat to the markets of Lalitpur and Kathmandu.

Mogal Prasad Shah, chief of Livestock Service Office, Lalitpur, informed that the concerned four slaughterhouses have been banned from supplying meat in the market and its operators have been called for further clarification. Two of the sealed slaughterhouses include A-One Meat Shop and RK Meat Shop, while the other two government-registered slaughterhouses were operated by Dev Khadki and Sunil Shahi.

Among other offences, the investigation team found that some slaughterhouses were being operated without completing formal registration process with the government, not maintaining cleanliness in slaughtering areas and compromising on quality of meat. Moreover, the slaughterhouses we also found to be ignoring the earlier directions given by the market inspection team.

“Though these slaughterhouses are major meat suppliers to the Lalitpur market, their products were unhygienic,” informed Sanjeev Karn, director general of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DoFTQC), adding that these slaughterhouses will not be allowed to supply meat products in the market until they improve the standard of their slaughterhouses and quality of meat products.

Meanwhile, Karn also informed that the department has been strictly implementing different policies related to food products and consumers in a bid to ensure quality in food products supplied in the market. Among others, the new amendments in the Food Act will adopt competitive and contextual provisions in improving the quality of food available in the market, as per him.