online business

Meat Shops in India

Retailing of meat was not much in the focus since the discussion is on about new retail chains giving competition to small mom-and pop-stores, as these do not sell meat. FoodIndustryIndia.com therefore takes a closer look on how meat is retailed in India in traditional meat shops. Meat shops are usually a one room outlet, with a platform on the side opposite the entrance, where the butcher sits among pieces of meat, be it goat legs, chops, or full chickens. Cutting of meat is done on bloody logs, fine tuning of pieces is done by using a knife which is fixed between the butcher’s toes .

The usual equipment are a freezer to store big pieces of goat, a cage for the live chickens, and a box for the feathers, skins, crowfeet and heads of the chicken.Unlike in shops of Western countries or in outlets of some Indian retail chains, the chicken meat the consumer buys is very fresh.

All chickens are slaughtered there itself, sometimes in front of the customer, if he wants to see first what he buys, a phenomena which is known from fish-restaurants in China. From a hygienic point of view, and even much more from an aesthetical point, a traditional Indian meat shop can be regarded as a no-go area. Any American or German food inspector would probably get a heard attack when visiting such a place.

On the other side, one has to admit that meat bought in these shops is really very fresh, something which is not always the case in supermarkets all over the world. Sophisticated supply chains, stretching often over hundreds of kilometers from the slaughterhouse to a central warehouse and then from there to a supermarket, have failed quite often already in hot summers. The meat you get has then a smell, a certain sign that something is wrong. And such meat, even without any smell, is mostly several days old already. Some might say that they would never eat meat coming from such a place like an Indian meat shop. But even when ordering from a restaurant, the meat has probably been bought at such a meat shop. The meat prepared on the photo was eaten by FoodIndustryIndia.com reporters, all are in good health.

Even in times of bird flu - the third outbreak in India was reported in January from West-Bengal and reported again in April - one should not to be scarred to eat the meat, as properly cooked poultry or poultry products is not a source of infection. The WHO says that “there is no evidence” for infection. Another more important question in that regard is the handling of the shops by health authorities when cases of bird flu would be identified in an area, and, if one should enter such shops with live chickens. This is important as some experts say, that bird flu – theoretically – could pass on even through dirt and dust from infected birds. Meat soup business is good business in this time .