Policemen during a raid at a shop selling rotten meat in Newtown

KOLKATA: Sale of non-vegetarian cuisine — mutton, chicken and pork dishes — has halved across restaurants in Kolkata and its surrounding areas, which has prompted the Hotel and Restaurants' Association of Eastern India (HRAEI) to issue an urgent advisory on Monday to its members asking them to stick to buying meat only from registered suppliers.

The weekend, particularly, witnessed an unprecedented shift to fish and prawn, and even vegetarian dishes. HRAEI members said people are reacting to "rumours" about carcass meat having made its way to city eateries from dumpyards near Kolkata.

"Respectable eateries, including our members, don't procure meat from dubious sources. Smaller eateries may buy chicken and mutton from roadside vendors or suppliers from the city fringes who are now under the scanner. Frozen meat is now suspect and we have requested all restaurants not to use them. But the drop in sale of non-vegetarian food is a worry," HRAEI president Sudesh Poddar said.

A central Kolkata restaurant owner said, "The fear is very strong. Our patrons preferred even vegetarian food to chicken and pork this weekend."

A popular South Kolkata biryani joint, Shamim Hotel has suffered more than 60 per cent drop in sales. "On any normal day, we would procure 25-30 kg of meat. But, after the carcass rumour, the procurement has dropped to just 8 kg a day. It is a big setback," owner Sheikh Shamim said.

Mocambo and Peter Cat on Park Street, however, claimed their sales have not been affected. "Our customers know that the quality of food we serve is above suspicion. In fact, we check the quality of raw meat quite regularly and there hasn't been any cause for concern so far," owner Nitin Kothari said.

Poddar, however, said it was better to be careful. "The city has a huge number of eateries. It is easy to sell poor-quality meat to them as many of them can be lured into buying cheap. We shall take strict action if any eatery is caught buying carcass meat," Poddar said.

Park Street's Hot Kathi Roll owner Salim Mohammed said: "The rumour, which is spreading fast, might affect everybody if the government does not step in to stop the rumours."

