It is indeed alarming that over 250 truck load of live animals are being smuggled from Pakistan on daily basis, causing a huge loss to national exchequer as this is illegal and un-regulated trade.
Kamran Khalili, CEO, Meat One, a chain of speciality meat stores retailing fresh, export quality meat told Business Recorder here on Thursday that the situation needs immediate correction as Pakistan could face a ban from countries where it currently exports its meat, if any smuggled animal is caught with any lethal disease and resultantly damage the whole meat industry.
Meat exporters, he said, are not only bringing foreign exchange to the country but also exploring new markets for Pakistani products abroad as well as creating employment opportunities for the people. He said that Meat One is a subsidiary of Al Shaheer Corporation which is one of the leading meat exporters of Pakistan. The company specialises in exporting free range grass fed beef and mutton to the Middle east, including Dubai, Kuwait, Oman and Muscat. Its meat exports end up on the shelves of some of the leading international retailers and hyper marts in the GCC.
The daily consumption of meat in Karachi is approximately 1460 metric tons in which beef accounts for 360 tons, mutton's share is 280 tons and poultry accounts for 820 tons. The need to establish meat shops that are at par with international standards was felt keeping in view the large size of the market with respect to meat consumption, he said.
Khalili said that operating one of the largest abattoirs in Pakistan, "we recognised that the practice of exporting good quality meat to some of the leading retailers in the Middle East was a travesty and realised the need to change the practice to offer Karachi the same high quality, fresh and hygienically prepared meat that we have been successfully exporting to our international clients."
He said that there is dire need to educate the public about potential health hazards associated with the consumption of sub-standard meat, ie, rules and regulations, contaminated meat, dead animals, etc. "We have been seeing reports in media on the slaughter of dead or diseased animals. Strict rules and regulations for wrong practices and contaminated meat should be placed and implemented with an iron fist. We have to take notice of the free spread of diseases through the diseased meat which is openly sold across the country," he said.
The CEO, Meat One referred to the study conducted by the Immunology and Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory, Department of Microbiology, University of Karachi on Microbial contamination of raw meat and its environment in retail shops in Karachi in 2010. The study was conducted to examine the frequency of contamination in retail meat available in Karachi. Around 250 raw meat samples and 90 surface swabs from meat processing equipments and the surrounding environment were analysed for microbiological contamination.
Out of 340 samples, 84 percent were found to be contaminated with bacterial species, including Klebsiella, Enterpbacter, Staphylococcus aureus and Bacillus subtilis. A total of 550 (66 percent) of the bacterial isolates were potential pathogens. Of these, 342 and 208 isolates were from meat and environmental samples respectively. The study concluded that food-borne pathogens found in retail shops could be sources for horizontal contamination of meat.
Khalili said:" when we buy free-range animals from the open livestock markets of Sindh and Punjab for slaughtering, our team of doctors, microbiologists and food scientists' carryout rigorous checks and tests on each animal. Some animals have cancer, tumour, and infected liver and damaged body parts which are out rightly rejected by out slaughter house." Although it is the government's responsibility to implement checks and balances on the meat trade in the country, we believe that we offer consumers a healthy choice in terms of their meat purchases, he said.
He said when we slaughter animals at our state of the art slaughter house we take the meat to zero degree temperature within 15 minutes from slaughtering. According to some estimates over 0.2 million Pakistanis die due to stomach related diseases, major cause of which is consuming contaminated food. We must work on prevention by introducing healthy practices instead of spending billions of rupees on treatments and medicines, he said.
Khalili proudly invited women, especially young housewives to feel safe and go out to buy meat for their families. "We have provided them with a safe, respectful and healthy environment. One can compare the environment of our outlets with any international meat shop in a foreign country. Meat One represents a paradigm shift in Pakistan's meat industry. The environment is very novel relative to local standards," he said.
"The perception that we are only catering to high-end customers is wrong because you cannot sell food commodity with a different price tag. Our product offering is aimed at every citizen who likes to purchase fresh quality meat. Our customers can be rest assured that they are buying meat which is 100 percent contamination and bacteria free, has zero added water content and is weighed after trimming and thus they get exactly what they pay for.
About the export potential, Khalili said that the export of meat is less than two percent of our annual local consumption while the growth rate of livestock is over five percent. He, however, clarified that there is no linkage of price hike in meat prices with the exports from Pakistan.
If the government seriously consider livestock sector as a potential tool to fetch foreign exchange for the country, this sector has the potential to outperform many other export oriented sectors of the country. A level playing field is required to be provided to livestock sector and meat exporters. If we want to establish Pakistan as a big meat exporter, we must adapt corporate farming in the country, he said.
Government could also create special zones for animal breeding where required infrastructure is available for the investors; Khalili said adding that we have tremendous export potential of meat from Pakistan. Currently we are exporting to Middle East and GCC countries only. We are unable to export our quality meat to European destinations or other continents because they demand animal traceability. Through corporate farming we can have a record of the family of animals and demand of traceability of an animal's background can also be fulfilled. This required serious efforts at the highest level.
Meat One is thinking of establishing a training institute whereby butchers and meat sellers could be trained in basic requirements and dos and don'ts of meat selling business. This is a serious matter; you cannot afford to put others' lives in danger just for mere profits, he said.