Indian origin frozen boneless buffalo meat is safe: APEDA

The affordably priced buffalo meat is contributing towards food security and food price inflation control in the importing countries

Agricultural & Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry said that all importing countries can safely procure Indian origin frozen boneless buffalo meat.

The buffalo meat exports from India are going on smoothly and there are no hurdles in the supply chain. The affordably priced buffalo meat is contributing towards food security and food price inflation control in the importing countries.

India is one of the world’s leading exporters of buffalo meat. Despite COVID -19 Pandemic for over a year now, India has been able to achieve its exports valued at $3.17 billion in the year 2020-21 which is at the previous year’s level of exports (2019-20).

The value realisation of buffalo meat also went up from $2754 to 2921 per MT. The nutritious and risk-free buffalo meat is very popular in more than 70 countries across the world.

Top Indian buffalo meat importing countries are Hong Kong, Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Indonesia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and the UAE. The buffalo meat is prepared and exported under OIE guidelines for any risk mitigation. Only boneless buffalo meat is allowed for export from India which is safe and risk-free.

There have been several interventions by the Government of India to control and eradicate various livestock diseases. The launching of the National Animal Disease Control Programme (NADCP) in June 2019 to control Foot & Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis by 2025 with vaccination and eradication of the disease by 2030 is one of the flagship schemes of GOI. To fully contain and eradicate the diseases, the 100 per cent cost of the vaccine is borne by the Central Government for which an outlay of Rs 13,343 crore has been made. Under this programme, all vaccinated animals are ear-tagged and complete traceability is maintained.

In addition, the Government of India has also been implementing several schemes for prevention, control and containment of Livestock diseases of economic importance such as FMD. India’s official FMD Control Programme received OIE’s endorsement, as per the provisions of the OIE Terrestrial Animal Health Code.

International organisations such as OIE, WHO and FAO have issued guidelines that categorically mention that it is highly unlikely that people can contact COVID -19 from food or food packaging.