Lack of awareness about the deleterious side-effects of consumption of unhygienic meat has made an effective implementation of the Slaughterhouse and Meat Test Act, 1998, rather impossible. The Act requires both the abattoirs and butcheries to adopt hygienic measures in the handling and cleaning of meat products. The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) monitors meat processing technologies and quality of meat of the 10 meat processing industries in the Valley. The local municipal authorities, for their part, have been entrusted with keeping an eye over the butcheries. But lack of cooperation of the consumers who by and large prefer unprocessed and unskinned meat has made the task of municipalities that much harder.

Nonetheless, the flagrant flouting of even the minimal hygienic standards by many of the butchers cannot only be accounted for by consumers’ ignorance. It is incumbent on the municipalities to enforce clear hygienic standards on the butcheries in order to safeguard the health of the people. On the other hand, apparently there is no provision to check if the animals to be slaughtered are free from diseases. It must be mandatory for animal suppliers to have their animals tested for major diseases prior to their selling to the butcheries. A strict enforcement of the 1998 Act will also call for greater commitment (and enhanced coordination) on the part of DFTQC and municipalities and most importantly, mass public awareness campaign to make them rethink their wrong choice.