NEW DELHI: The government will set up testing labs at ports across the country to check illegal export of cow meat, minister of state for agriculture Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said on Tuesday.
The first lab will be set up at Mumbai port from where the maximum export takes place, he said.
“APEDA officials say there is no illegal export of cow meat as production and exports are strictly monitored through a software, Meat Net. However, it has been decided to set up labs at ports to check illegal export of cow meat,” Balyan said after a meeting with officials of the agriculture ministry, food processing ministry and Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA).
The government has decided to set up the laboratory after Mohammed Akhlaq was lynched by a mob in Dadri allegedly for storing and consuming beef. Government officials said that there could be a probability of cow meat being exported along with buffalo meat.
Out of the 49 government authorised beef export slaughter houses, 20 are in Uttar Pradesh. The state also is the biggest exporter of buffalo meat from the country, followed by Punjab and Maharashtra. Apart from having the country’s largest buffalo population, Uttar Pradesh also has the highest number of abattoirs-cum-meat processing export units.
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