The Hindu Business Line : Fish, chilled chicken may come under MFPO

SELLING of fish and live chicken for meat by hawkers at street corners may not be the same henceforth if signals from the Ministry Of Food Processing Industries (MFPI) to set in motion quality control exercises are any indications.

The MFPI is in the process of amending the Meat Food Products Order (MFPO) of 1973 to include fish and chilled chicken under the purview of the order.

The implication of the amendment, mainly intended to address consumers' concern on safety and quality of the meat products consumed, would be that those engaged in processing and selling the fish and chilled chicken will have to be licensed and the processes adopted by them are to be inspected and certified, according to officials from the MFPO and the local poultry industry.

The draft notification of the amended MFPO, already vetted by the Government, is said to be with the Union Law Ministry for further scrutiny and the final notification incorporating the two popular meat items would be made soon, the sources said.

Dr G.K. Pallan, head of the meat division of the MFPI - who was here recently in connection with a training programme on quality inspection for poultry meat sector - told Business Line that licensing and certification of the manufacture and sale of fish and chilled chicken under the MFPO would be initially on voluntary basis as the Government wants to bring about awareness among the sellers of these meat products on the hygienic aspects, especially with a view to dissuading the still widely prevalent practice of street slaughtering, and inducing them to scientific meat processing methods.

The effort is also intended to protect the consumers' interests by nurturing the `farm to fork' quality aspect, he added.

According to Dr Pallan, MFPO amendment and the simultaneous campaign to promote consumption of processed would encourage higher investment into meat processing facilities.

Currently, his Ministry has issued 240 licences for meat processing units, including those in the Government sector, and the Ministry expects the number of licencees to touch 800 or so with the inclusion of the fish and chilled chicken under the MFPO.

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