PESHAWAR, Oct 6: There is a high likelihood of many Peshawarites eating unhygienic meat as animals are butchered at one of the two local slaughterhouses without veterinary supervision, it is learnt.

According to an insider, no veterinary doctor has been posted to the Ring Road abattoir and only a medical technician is there to monitor the slaughter of animals.

“The technician remains present on the premises from morning to 2:30pm though animals are butchered until night,” he said.

The insider said medical technician was tasked with stamping meat to suggest that the animal was properly examined before slaughter and its meat was fit for human use.

However, during a visit to the place on Saturday, this correspondent saw some contractors, whose duty is to collect tax, stamp meat.

A veterinary doctor said ante-mortem and post-mortem examinations of slaughtered animals were mandatory.

“Ante-mortem examination is for checking if animals to be butchered are healthy. The slaughter of ill animals is not allowed.

“As for post-mortem examination, it is about seeing presence of visible signs of disease on meat. If such signs are spotted, then meat is destroyed,” he said.

The veterinary doctor said under the rules, every internal organ of a slaughtered animal, including heart, liver, kidneys and lungs, were supposed to be properly examined.

“The slaughter of underage animals, especially buffalos and cows, are not allowed,” he said.

A butcher at the abattoir said on condition of anonymity that dozens of underage animals were butchered daily and that the relevant authorities never bothered to check animals’ age.

This correspondent saw many weak buffalos, which were unable to properly get to their feet, being butchered there.

It is also learned that illegal slaughter of animals at butcher’s houses is common.

The veterinary doctor said examination of the meat of such animals was possible only at butchers’ shops.

According to him, the city district government is to blame for the unlawful activity.

An official of the livestock department confirmed to Dawn that the Ring Road slaughterhouse had a medical technician, whose duty was between morning and 2:30pm.

“It is the responsibility of the livestock department to employ another technician for the second shift until late night,” he said.

The official said 6,000 to 7,000 big animals and 4,000 to 5,000 small animals (sheep and goats) were butchered monthly.

When contacted, district coordination officer Mohammad Javed Marwat said it was the responsibility of the livestock department to appoint veterinary doctors to the slaughterhouses to avoid the slaughtering of underage, weak and malnourished animals. He said he would conduct surprise raids on slaughterhouses.

“In future, there will be no violation of law regarding slaughtering of animals,” he claimed.

Livestock and dairy development director general Dr Sher Mohammad Khan told Dawn that the management of the slaughterhouse was the responsibility of the administration of Town-I and not of his department.

Town-I administrator Azmatullah Wazir was not available for comments.