Sample of ‘cow meat’ seized from 2014 to 2017 was of bulls, buffaloes

Hyderabad: A yet-to-be-published study revealed that most of the meat seized by authorities from 2014 to 2017 has turned out to that of bulls and buffaloes, and just a few were of cows.

According to a report published in The Times of India, out of the 112 samples of meat analysed by the National Research Centre just eight samples (7%) were found to contain beef, while the remaining were of bull and buffalo. The samples were of the meat that was seized by police and animal husbandry officials in various states.

The yet-to-be-published study is based on an analysis of 112 samples out of 139 samples received. The remaining samples were not suitable for DNA testing.

The National Research Centre on Meat is an institute under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research and is located at Hyderabad. The samples were collected by the police and animal husbandry departments from Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Bihar, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The report assumes importance as of late there have been several incidents of mob lynching and attacks on people purported to be transporting cows for the purpose of killing them for meat.