National 8 (Spotlight Weekly)

Meat Menace

Poor hygiene in Kathmandu's meat shops pose a big threat to public health

By THAKUR AMGAI

Chunu Rajak, 35, runs a meat shop in the heart of Kathmandu. At first light of the day, his work starts. He goes to the banks of Bishnumati River. With the help of his peers, he slaughters a few buffaloes, washes the bodies with the polluted river water, loads the stuff in a rickshaw after wrapping the carcass in synthetic sacks, and pulls it along the road to his shop.

As he pulls the rickshaw, blood and water oozes out of the animals, leaving behind a trail of red marks. Upon reaching the shop, he uncovers the wrappers and dumps the meat onto the cemented floor, which has not been cleaned since the shop opened in 1991. The meat is kept uncovered, often with flies hovering over, throughout the day - and sometimes even till the next day - waiting for customers.

Then people buy the meat, which fills the kitchens of homes, restaurants and hotels. They turn into delicious momo, burgers and sekuwa. The consumers, unaware of conditions the meat has come through and the health hazards they pose, savor the delicacies.

It is revolting to see meat being handled and stored in such an unhygienic way. But this is a common scene in the streets of Kathmandu, as regular morning walkers know. "I go for a morning walk every day and all I see is dead buffaloes carried over like garbage," says Rabindra Khatri.

Unhygienic and improper management of those shops in Kathmandu affects people who do not consume the meat as well. "My eyes strain when I see things like that," says Khatri.

There are over 2,000 meat shops in Kathmandu. Conditions in many of them are so poor that the meat poses a serious threat to health. Many diseases associated with unhygienic meat have been reported in recent days.

"Unhygienic meat causes diseases like typhoid, jaundice, cholera, and diarrhea," says Dr. Pradip Chhetri at the Bir Hospital. "It also increases the level of cholesterol, which in turn induces heart diseases."

Health experts say meat eaters are more prone to diseases than vegetarians. The pathogens in the body of the animals go inside humans with the meat. The pathogens begin their attack whenever they find a suitable environment. For this reason, health experts say, the animals that are to be slaughtered should be healthy. They should be bred in a healthy environment. There should be a mechanism to check the animal's health beforehand. Slaughterhouses should be developed in a scientific way. Meat should be stored in properly managed cold stores and not just dumped on the cemented floor.

In Nepal, there are hardly any legal provisions governing animal slaughter. The only statute that comes close is the one barring the slaughter of female animals, which is related more to religious beliefs than health concerns. Quarantine is not being followed properly. Moreover, there is no quarantine for the internal transfer of animals. If the government is truly concerned about public health, it should begin by enacting legal provisions to create scientific slaughterhouses.