MC seizes 385 kg stale chicken, shop owner booked

Kuldeep Chauhan

Tribune News Service

Shimla, July 13

A team of veterinary doctors led by Deputy Mayor Tikender Panwar today raided a wholesaler’s shop in Sabji Mandi and seized 385 kg of chicken and dead birds allegedly infested with fungus. The team destroyed it on the spot after it was found unfit for human consumption.

The shop owner has been booked under Section 322 of the Municipal Act.

The raid at the wholesaler’s shop, M/S Goel, has busted the alleged racket of smuggling poultry birds from outside the state.

“The chicken was smuggled from outside. It was not procured from MC-run slaughterhouse, which is mandatory under the MC Act,” said Dr Neeraj Mohan, veterinary public health officer, Shimla Municipal Corporation.

“We have destroyed the chicken and challaned the shop owner under the MC Act,” he added.

The MC team found that the shop owner used to smuggle birds from outside at cheaper rates. “He used to mix it with certified chicken that he used to slaughter at the Municipal-run slaughterhouse and sell it to retailers or individual consumers in and outside the city,” the team said.

The Deputy Mayor said the raid followed after the veterinary public health officer received a complaint that huge quantity of dead birds and chicken was smuggled from outside by the shop owner. “We raided the shop and confiscated over 387 kg chicken which was smuggled and seemed to be stale and infested with fungus,” he said.

The team took the samples of the chicken and sent them for testing at the MC-run microbiological veterinary testing lab, said Dr Mohan.