Kathmandu, May 7:

Experts have called for the strict implementation of the Slaughterhouse and Meat Test Act, 1998.

According to them, the strict enforcement of the act will go a long way in ensuring that hygienic meat products reach the consumers’ table.

Meat products brought from slaughterhouses are safer compared to those available at neighbourhood meat shops, they say, adding that products of meat processing industries are the most hygienic. There are around 10 meat processing industries in the valley.

Experts say there are just 10 such industries in the valley because not too many people go for hygienic meat.

“Rather than buying meat processed by a processing industry, people prefer to buy meat from unhygienic shops,” says Jeevan Prabha Lama, deputy director general of the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC), attributing this consumer behaviour to the non-implementation of the Act.

“Most of the Nepalis prefer meat having skin over processed one,” Lama says.

Many people fall ill during the summer after eating unhygienic meat brought from butchers’ shops in the valley, Lama says.

Says Dr Dinesh Shrestha, the chief consultant at the Gastroenterology unit at the Bir Hospital, “Not taking their health into account, people consume meat bought from any shops.” This ignorance on the part of the people causes diarrhoea, vomiting and food poisoning.

“If people eat raw or half-cooked meat, cysts of tapeworms may enter their bodies and cause serious health problems,” Shrestha says, adding, “There is no provision in our country to check whether animals to be slaughtered are free from diseases.”

People should buy fresh meat products from hygienic places and cook them properly to keep diseases at bay, Shrestha says.

The DFTQC said it frequently monitored meat-processing technologies and quality of meat produced by the 10 industries.

According to Lama, the DFTQC also held an awareness campaign covering hotels and restaurants. “The Slaughterhouse and Meat test Act, 1998 must be enforced to control diseases that people contract due to consumption of unhygienic meat.”

Ram Krishna Khatiwada, the regional director of the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), says, “People do not know that consumption of unhygienic meat is harmful.”

“The stakeholders concerned could not abide by the Slaughterhouse and Meat test Act, 1998 because it is of international standards,” says Khatiwada, adding, “The municipalities have the authority to provide licences to local butchers. They also have the authority to check whether the rules are being followed.”