Food minister inaugurates UVAS meat outlet

The University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS)Lahore in collaboration with Livestock and Dairy Development Department Punjab has started providing antibiotic and hormones-free quality buffalo calf beef to people at its meat outlet on Abdul Qadir Jillani (Outfall) Road Lahore. Punjab Food Minister Bilal Yasin along with Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Talat Naseer Pasha inaugurated the meat outlet on Thursday.
Speaking on the occasion, Bilal Yasin appreciated the UVAS for taking this initiative for providing safe and quality meat to the people. The minister asked the university and the livestock department to soon start mobile facility for supplying safe and pure meat to people of other areas. He said that the government would also start such meat outlets in other cities like Faisalabad and Multan with the support of agriculture/veterinary universities of those cities.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Dr Talat Naseer Pasha said that this is a unique project of its kind which will help people get quality traceable low cholesterol buffalo calf beef and help farmers to have easy access to market, consequently improving their economic status. He said that in this project latest processing and packaging technologies such as vacuum packing and modified atmospherics packing are being introduced under the supervision of UVAS Meat Science experts to keep meat fresh and tasteful for a longer time.
He added that introduction of these technologies would also prove a milestone in export of meat to many countries, earning a hefty amount in foreign exchange. Professor Pasha said that buffalo calves would be fattened before slaughtering and this would be a permanent earning source for farmers and also help establish a quality beef value chain in the country. He said that through this project the university will set an example for other industries and businesses to start such outlets to facilitate people and stakeholders of their respective areas.