PESHAWAR: The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) has said that in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) an estimated Rs1.5 billion is spent annually on the treatment of patients due to consumption of unhygienic meat.
The reports said that there are 39 slaughterhouses in the province but none of them meet the international standards. Two slaughter houses in Peshawar, three in Abbottabad and three in Dera Ismail Khan are owned by the KP government. But the report said that there is no place where meat is available as per the international standard.
The report informed that nine slaughter houses are currently shut down in the province. Similarly, said that report, butchers in the KP lack facilities at their shops. “At present, 23% butchers in the province do not have electricity in their shops while 32% do not have clean water and 47% do not have cold storage,” the report revealed.
The report added that substandard meat poses a serious threat to health and an estimated Rs1.5 billion is spent annually on treating people who fall ill due substandard meat.
The UNIDO has set up a working group that would work on proposals to secure the meat and make the commodity accessible as per the global standard. But due to the inefficiency of the provincial government and administration, unhygienic meat is widely available in every district of the province.