Chhimi Dema

Bhutan Agriculture and Food Regulatory Authority (BAFRA) disposed of 5,000kg chicken from Dagana and 7,045kg from Tsirang last month.

BAFRA’s deputy chief regulatory and quarantine officer, Kaling Dorji, said that meat had to be disposed of because it was spoiled. “Chickens were disposed of based on professional judgement to ensure the safety of the consumers.”

Chicken from Dagana were collected and processed on August 25 and brought to Thimphu on August 26. Whereas, chicken from Tsirang was processed on August 27 and brought to Thimphu on August 28.

Processed chicken were delivered to Thimphu using the same air-conditioned (AC) jumbo truck.

Kaling Dorji said that the meat was spoiled due to the lack of air circulation inside the AC jumbo truck. “Although chickens brought in an AC truck, they were stacked without trays to hold it separately.”

The collection from various farms prolong the holding time–the time between the purchase from the farms and the delivery to Thimphu–which caused chicken to spoil, he said.

In Tsirang, the collection started at around 6am and arrived in Damphu at 9pm At 2am, the chicken was delivered to Thimphu,  he said.

In Dagana, the collection was done in the morning and delivered to Thimphu only at night.

Due to the lockdown, BAFRA officials could not conduct the post-mortem and ante-mortem which was then conducted by the dzongkhag livestock officials.

Chickens were sent by the dzongkhag livestock sector of Dagana and Tsirang to meat shops and Bhutan Livestock Development Corporation Limited in Thimphu.

The spoiled chickens were disposed of at Memelhakha Landfill in Thimphu.