Cattle slaughter in Kandy raises concerns

Despite the ban on illegal cattle slaughter, illegal beef is brought to the Kandy Municipal area by four registered meat transporters, officials said yesterday.

This raises concerns whether the consumers can buy germ-free beef elsewhere other than at the Kandy Central Market.

Slaughtered animals chopped into four parts are thus brought to the area.

The Kandy municipality has only one veterinarian who apart from his other duties has to check the quality of the meat being brought to the Kandy Central market for sale.

This checking is done in the old Slaughter house. He has no staff to check all the meat brought into Kandy both legally and illegally. The only other checking is done at check points by the police so this

Slaughtered cattle are chopped into four parts and are brought into the area

process can not be done thoroughly.

When Mrs. Chandra Ranaraja was Mayor of Kandy, a new slaughter house was built, at Gohagoda with the assistance of Asian Development Fund, but it was not operated, sources said.

The re-locating of the Kandy Slaughter house was the purpose of building that facility. But, this place is left for the use of stray dogs today.

The only Kandy Municipal Veterinarian Dr.Vasantha Kumar told Daily Mirror that he has to check all the beef being brought to the area as well as the meat used in the food outlets.