Meaty description

India ranks 5th among global meat producers and accounts for 3% of the world’s 220 million tonne production

4,000 slaughterhouses registered with local bodies in India and more than 25,000 unregistered ones, according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA)

19 % of the country’s meat production is in Uttar Pradesh followed by Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal

65 of the country’s 109 big export-oriented integrated abattoirs and meat processing units are in UP. Aligarh, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Bulandshar, Moradabad, Unnao are the main centres

The process

Traders or individual butchers buy their animals from weekly markets and bring them to slaughterhouses

Ante-mortem and post-mortem inspection of animals is carried out by veterinary doctors who issue a medical fitness certificate The animals for slaughter are held in the Knocking Box where they cannot see other animals being slaughtered First they are stunned by electric/pneumatic stunner as per requirement of importing nations Some countries do not allow stunning. For them all the animals are slaughtered by halal method in the presence of a cleric assigned by the All-India Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind as per Islamic Sharia for certification

After slaughter veterinary doctor conducts post-mortem examination to certify the meat is fit for human consumption