'Sheep, not dog meat,' says FSSAI on consignment seized at KSR Bengaluru railway station

Bengaluru: Days after controversy erupted over alleged transportation of dog meat at the KSR Bengaluru railway station, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has confirmed that the meat seized on July 26 was "not dog but sheep meat".

In a statement released on Wednesday, FSSAI said that the samples collected from the railway station were sent to the National Meat Research Institute at ICAR in Hyderabad. 

“A detailed analysis report from the institute which carried out Molecular Biomarker Analysis (DNA) test on the samples, confirmed that the meat was of Ovis aries (sheep),” the statement by FSSAI said. 

On July 26, chaos swept through the KSR Bengaluru Railway Station when Hindutva vigilante Puneeth Kerehalli and his associates intercepted a large shipment of red meat that arrived by a long-distance train, alleging it was "dog meat". Police officials and food safety officials soon reached the spot and the food safety officers collected samples to check if the allegations were true.

BBMP License Mandatory

Senior BBMP officials who commented on the issue reiterated that a trade license was mandatory for all meat shops in the city and the officials from the BBMP’s health department and animal husbandry department are keeping a close watch on such shops. 

“They monitor the cleanliness, hygiene, and the waste disposal methods followed at these establishments regularly and cancel the trade license if there is a violation,” a senior BBMP official said.