PESHAWAR, Sept 28: Some unscrupulous butchers in Peshawar have been playing with health of people by pumping water into slaughtered animals to increase weight of the meat and earn more profit, according to sources.

The authorities responsible for checking this harmful practice have not been taking any effective action to stop sale of adulterated meat, the sources said, adding that such butchers were running their dirty business in different areas of Town-I and Town-III of the metropolis.

“It is a great injustice with common people, who can hardly afford to buy meat once in a weak, if they have to eat meat unfit for human consumption,” a veterinary doctor, who raided shops of such butchers, told Dawn.

Asked how the butchers pump water into the body of slaughtered animals, he said that as soon as bleeding stopped after cutting throat of an animal, high pressure water was pumped into its jugular vein through a nozzle, which spread all around the body.

He said that it was very common with meat of goat and ram as their prices were very high. With adulteration of water the weight of goat and ram could increase up to six kilogrammes, he said. It means that a butcher earns additional Rs3,000 for each animal as these days mutton is available at Rs500-600 per kilogram.

The health official said that a small amount of injected water dropped from the meat during the time it remained hung in front of shops. He said that colour of adulterated meat was usually whiter than the normal, and people should avoid buying comparatively whiter meat. Besides, he said that pumping of polluted water into slaughtered animals further contaminated the meat.

He said that consumers didn’t need to mix water in such meat during cooking because when it was put on gas burner the meat released the injected water after getting hot.

The veterinary doctor said that quality of adulterated meat was lost quickly and consumers could not get the required protein by consuming such meat. He said that intake of such meat had a very negative impact on health of children.

The official said that the butchers guilty of this practice should be awarded exemplary punishment because they couldn’t be stopped from selling adulterated meat by merely sending them to prison for two or three days or imposing a fine of a few thousand rupees on them.

He suggested that shops of butchers should be sealed if they were found indulging in selling substandard meat.

When contacted, district coordination officer Mohammad Javed Marwat said that officials of the city district government had been conducting daily raids on shops of butchers to check any violation of the law.

He said that a few days ago 20 butchers were arrested for overcharging and adulteration of meat. He said that each of them was fined Rs20,000. “The butchers have also been sent to jail many times,” he said.

The DCO said that he had the powers to fine butchers and send them to jail for pumping water into the body of slaughtered animals, but he couldn’t seal their business as there was no such provision in the law.