How Kolkata Is Trying To Digest The Carcass Meat Scam

Meat may have gone off the plates of most Kolkatans, but the vegetables and fish that have replaced it are no less harmful. The carcass meat scam – meat culled from carcasses of dogs, cats and other animals dumped in garbage dumps in and around Kolkata and processed before being mixed and packed with chicken, mutton or pork--has led Kolkatans to develop an aversion to meat, especially processed meat products like sausages and ham.

The meat scare has led to food-loving Kolkatans who love to dine out drastically changing their food habits. Restaurants, even reputable ones, have seen a sharp reduction in footfalls. The Hotels and Restaurants Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) has reported a 30 per cent fall in the number of customers on an average. And those who are eating out are avoiding meat. “Many clients are asking for fish and prawn dishes instead of mutton and chicken. Ever our regular customers are avoiding meat. Many are also going in for vegetarian fare,” said Nitin Kothari, who owns the very popular and upscale ‘Peter Cat’ and ‘Mocambo’ restaurants in the Park Street area.

But the fish that Kolkatans have replaced meat with could be more poisonous than ‘carcass meat’. Fish sold in Kolkata’s markets have high levels of mercury that trigger a host of serious and life-threatening ailments. An extensive study on fish sold in Kolkata, carried out by two non-governmental organisations(NGOs) a few years ago, had revealed alarming levels (read this summary of the findings) of mercury in the fish. The situation has not changed since then. There are also fears that the fish bred in waterbodies fed by the city's sewage (most of the fish consumed in Kolkata comes from these water bodies) could also contain many toxins, though a detailed study on this has never been carried out.

Prawns and lobsters, another favourite which Kolkatans are increasingly opting for, are no less dangerous. Apart from mercury contamination of these crustaceans, they are also injected with gel to make them look bigger and increase their weight (watch this video on women in Bengal injecting prawns with gel). The silicon present in these gels can trigger respiratory diseases. “A detailed and extensive chemical analysis of fish and crustaceans sold in the markets in Kolkata has not been carried out lately. But the one carried out a few years ago by two NGOs would still hold since no measures were taken to check mercury contamination or to check flow of harmful chemicals into water bodies. If anything, such contamination has only increased and it can be safely assumed that if a similar study is carried out today, the level of harmful chemicals present in fish and prawns would be much higher,” said a senior faculty member of the West Bengal University of Animal and Fishery Sciences who did not want to be named.

Even those who have turned vegetarian, albeit temporarily, due to the carcass meat scam aren’t safe. The use of the carcinogenic calcium carbide to ripen fruits and vegetables is extensive in Bengal. Across India, residues of hazardous pesticides and fertilisers in fruits, vegetables and grains is much higher than the ‘safe levels’ set by the World Health Organisation. These chemicals cause a host of ailments, many of them very serious like cancer, liver and kidney diseases as well as diabetes and pancreatitis. Thus, nothing that Kolkatans are replacing meat with are safe.

West Bengal has witnessed a sharp rise in non-communicable diseases. There has been a 7 per cent rise in incidence of cancer, 4 per cent rise in diabetes, 13 per cent rise in gastro-enteric diseases (caused mainly by contaminated food and bad eating habits), and 5 per cent rise in kidney-related ailments. Doctors say many of these are triggered by contaminated food.

Incidentally, the disgust with the carcass meat scam that broke a couple of weeks ago is increasing every day. This report that appeared in today’s edition of The Times Of India says that 40 per cent of the carcass meat processed by the scam’s kingpin (who was arrested a few days ago) was being supplied to New Market where many well-heeled Kolkatans as well as the upscale eateries source their meat and meat products from. Stores selling processed meat products in New Market have already reported a 50 per cent fall in sales, and this latest revelation could drive all customers away from these stores.

According to the special investigation team (SIT) formed by the Kolkata Police to probe this scam, Biswanath Ghorui, the kingpin, had his men posted in various dumpyards in and around Kolkata. These men would collect carcasses of dead dogs, cats, cows, buffaloes and any other animal that would be dumped at these places and transport them to a cold storage in the city operated by Ghorui. There, the flesh from these rotting carcasses would be culled and washed with formalin. The fat from this meat would then be removed to prevent further rotting. After that, the meat would be injected with calcium propionate and kept for some time before being mixed with aluminium sulphate and lead sulphate to get rid the the meat’s foul smell. After all this processing, this meat would then be packed neatly with chicken, mutton or pork and then labelled (fake labels of even reputable brands have been recovered from the cold storage) before being supplied to various markets and restaurants across the city. This meat was also being supplied to neighbouring states like Odisha and Assam.

Ghorui has confessed that he used to sell 13,000 kilos of carcass meat a month. He would buy the carcass meat from his men posted in the dumpyards for Rs 60 per kilo and sell it after processing it at thrice the amount. The SIT says that Ghorui’s annual turnover was Rs 6 crore. The SIT is also questioning people tasked with collecting meat leftover from the city’s Alipore Zoo (after feeding the animals there) to find out if they had also supplied that meat to Ghorui. Many suspect that Ghorui would not have been the only person operating this racket. “There definitely are other players and the scam is much more widespread than what has been exposed till now. There should be a thorough enquiry and all meats being sold in all the markets all over the state should be tested. The practice of casually disposing carcasses of animals in dump yards should be stopped immediately and these carcasses have to be destroyed,” said a Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson.

The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) and other civic bodies in the state have started conducting raids on markets and eateries. A lot of rotten meat and fish have been seized over the past couple of weeks and destroyed. Last week, a meeting of the KMC’s Mayor-in-council where mutton biryani and other meat delicacies are routinely served saw only fish and vegetable dishes being served. Mayor Sovan Chatterjee admitted that he was keeping off meat.

Last weekend, Salt Lake Mayor Sabyaschi Dutta followed suit and said he had stopped serving meat at the civic body’s official meetings. The mutton chops and chicken rolls that used to be served in his office till the scam surfaced have now been replaced with vegetable cutlets and fish chops. Most Kolkatans have also made this switch-over. But little comfort can be derived from that, since fish and vegetables are also contaminated and harmful. But, of course, not disgustingly stomach-churning like consuming meat of dead dogs and cats!