Livestock dept seizes unhealthy meat
The livestock department seized 30 maund of ‘unhealthy meat that came from sick animals’ as part of a crackdown on slaughterhouses in the wake of cases of Congo fever. The beef was seized during an inspection on Jamia Masjid Road carried out by a team from the slaughterhouse unit of the livestock department.
The team inspected abattoirs to ensure hygiene standards and adequate gear, with the department saying it had stopped the slaughter of unhealthy, infected animals.
There have been accusations that sick animals were being slaughtered in illegally established slaughterhouses, with the ‘unhealthy meat’ from such setups sold openly in the city and cantonment areas.
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The department has also launched an awareness campaign regarding the Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) to educate people. It transfers from livestock to humans. It is caused by infected ticks’ bites. In humans, it results in high fever and headache, muscular pain, sore throat, nausea, and bleeding from the nose, mouth or any other part of the body.
The department said that it was spraying animals to remove ticks from their bodies to protect them from the disease, which would in turn safeguard humans from infection.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2023.