Among the festivals celebrated in Nepal, Bada Dashain is considered the greatest festival by Hindus. During this festival, the red tikas and blessings from the hands of the elders and relatives, have been kept as a festival of eating delicious food. Even if you don’t have enough money, even by taking out a loan, people will wear new clothes and pay for meat. For the same reason, it is said, “Dashain came by playing drums, Dashain went by carrying loans.” “Especially, it is customary to prepare various meat dishes and eat them, but due to minor carelessness, relatives and guests who have come to celebrate Dashain fall ill and have to be admitted to the hospital. For this reason, careful and balanced use of meat dishes is necessary during Dashain.
Meat is a nutritious food, it contains 14 to 20 percent protein. It also contains elements like zinc, vitamin B, and potassium. These elements are very essential elements for our body. The use of meat is considered mandatory in a balanced diet. But the elements obtained from meat cannot be obtained so easily, if not used in a correct and balanced manner. If you and we do not keep it in a safe manner, there is a danger of spreading various terrible diseases from that meat. According to the conclusion drawn during the study and research of researchers and meat experts from various universities in America and Europe, the daily use of excessive red meat in food affects people’s sensitive organs and heart, as well as causes high blood pressure and increases the possibility of cancer. According to the same research, if you eat a lot of meat every day, there is a risk of weakening the various strong bones in the body, the possibility of arthritis (disease related to joints) is very high, and there is a risk of breast cancer in women, and the amount of cholesterol in both men and women also increases in the body. Because of this, one has to refrain from eating the desired food.
Doctors say that due to negligence in meat shops in Nepal, most people get bacterial infections, leech larvae enter the body and various diseases are transmitted through the meat. Garbage in slaughterhouses, meat preparation, and care is not given enough attention, it has become a means of transmission of various types of flu and communicable diseases. Due to these and similar reasons, it is found that the number of hospitalizations of people has increased significantly just before the celebration of various festivals. The statistics of Veer Hospital, Teaching Hospital, and Patan Hospital show that many ‘food poisoning’ patients come to the hospital during the festive season. If you don’t eat meat and other dishes properly, if you don’t keep them in a healthy way, food poisoning will become more food poisoning and within a short time after eating, symptoms such as stomach ache, flatulence, diarrhea, indigestion, and indigestion will start to appear. If this happens, instead of treating at home, you should immediately go to the nearest health institution and get checked. Lack of knowledge about how to protect your personal hygiene, cooked or uncooked food that you use to avoid these different types of diseases. This year’s Dashain, how to take care of your health and how not to affect the health of your guests, if you can pay attention to some simple things, you can reduce the big risk of medical expenses.
If we pay attention to some basic things right from the moment we buy goats for Dashain, we can avoid meat-borne diseases. You should not buy Khasi goats that look like the name, very thin, eyes that are more juicy than necessary, sitting slouched, walking around in a funny way, these symptoms are usually shown when there is a disease of Khasibo. Currently, Khasi goats entering Kathmandu have been tested and dyed red and green at the government level. Goats with green paint on their horns are healthy, while goats with red paint are unhealthy. If you buy a poor goat for the greed of two to four hundred, there is a greater risk of getting sick tomorrow. After that, we can avoid meat-borne diseases if we keep some basic information on things like slaughtering goats, cooking and eating meat, and storing it.
In this way, diseases are transmitted from meat to healthy bodies.
– If you eat raw, uncooked, and burnt black meat
– If you eat meat that is kept in the refrigerator or outside the refrigerator when there is no light
– If meat cutting place, cutting knife and weapon are not clean
– If lured by rotten meat
– If the cook is not healthy
– If proper refrigeration storage procedure is not followed
– If you eat the meat of unhealthy and sick animals
– If the meat cutting tool is not clean
– If the animal slaughterhouse is completely dirty and unsafe
– If cooked and eaten immediately after slaughtering
How to choose healthy meat?
– The meat should not be light pink in color
– If the meat is green and onion colored, it is unfit to eat.
– The meat should not have any kind of sour, spoiled, unpleasant smell
– The meat should be stored separately in the refrigerator, covered, and kept in a clean, running refrigerator.
– The meat should not be stretched when cutting and handling.
– The shop that buys meat, the person who cuts it, the place where it is cut, the location, the weapon used, the clothes worn, the way it is cut, and whether the scales are clean or not.
Which meat to eat and which not to eat?
– It is better not to eat meat that has been stored in the fridge for a long time.
– Do not eat stale and open meat
– Under no circumstances should you eat raw meat dishes. Because raw meat is a source of disease. The possibility of disease transmission from raw meat is very high.
– It is better not to eat burnt meat (sekua, haku choila etc.) as much as possible. Because meat is not cooked well when it is burnt and the possibility of poisoning from smoke is very high.
– Eat only well-washed and well-cooked meat
– Reduce the use of many spices and oily substances
– Emphasizing the use of meat without fat and skin
How to store meat
– Don’t store meat in the fridge with other cooked foods
– Fresh meat can be stored in the refrigerator at 2 to 4 degrees Celsius for up to 48 hours. There are also good freezing methods, which are only available from commercial organizations.
– When keeping meat in the refrigerator, it should always be covered and never kept on top. If placed in the upper part, the germs in the meat will remain in the meat, and liquids, and air may fall to the lower surface, so there is a danger that it may fall into other foods, cooked dishes, vegetables, prepared/separated dishes for vegetarians, fruits and vegetables.
– Do not keep raw meat and cooked meat in the same place.
Important things to keep in mind during Dashain
– Pay attention to hygiene when preparing meat at home
– Only buy healthy meat from trusted stores
– Make a habit of eating maximum green vegetables while using meat as much as possible
– Don’t use meat daily while visiting your relatives for vaccinations
– Do not eat ice cream, curd, or cream dishes immediately after eating meat
– Exercising the body daily
– Do not use fish and meat if you feel that you are not healthy
– If stored by adopting safe measures – eat only after observing yourself
– Share the information you know about meat with your family and relatives
Kumar Chalise
Executive Board Member
Chef Association of Nepal
Ranibari – kathmandu