Think twice before you order Butter Chicken

...Or any other chicken dish for that matter. Mid Day investigation reveals how some restaurant owners are buying diseased and rotting birds at cheap rates

...Or any other chicken dish for that matter. Mid Day investigation reveals how some restaurant owners are buying diseased and rotting birds at cheap rates

Tempting tandoori chicken, creamy butter chicken, sweet and sour chicken soup or just momos filled with chicken ufffd The palate tickles every time the recipes come into the mind, if you are a hardcore non-vegetarian. But it might not be the case anymore.



You might even stop eating chicken altogether after you read this. Investigations carried out by MiD DAY have found out that the chicken recipes served by a lot of restaurants and street food stalls across the Capital comprise dead chicken. The restaurant and street food stall owners buy the birds that usually die during transportation from the wholesalers in Paharganj area at throw away prices.

A chicken that weighs 3 kilograms and costs around Rs 420 at your local meat shop is sold for just Rs 50 (Rs 15 per kg roughly )after its death.

How Mid Day did it?
A source working near Paharganj tipped off Mid Day about how dead chicken are sold illegally to food joint owners. Mid Day reporters posing as newcomers in momo business, reached street number 13 of Multani Dhaandhi area of Paharganj at 5 am.u00a0 Throughout the night, trucks loaded with goods had queued up outside a weighing machine (Dharam Kaanta) and they included several trucks loaded with chicken.

Till about 6 am, Mid Day noticed nine trucks loaded with chicken coming to get their goods weighed. When inquired about dead chicken, the truck drivers said we will have to wait till they had sold live chicken at Nawab road whole sale market.

During that time, several food joint owners and attendants, who happened to be regular buyers of dead chicken, started coming in. MiD DAY picked up conversation with one of the persons who claimed to be working at Chinese food joint in Rajender Place.

"These chickens are as good as live ones you get in local market. The best thing is you get these at 1/10 the actual price. It is difficult to keep price of momo at Rs 30 per plate if you happen to buy chicken at Rs 140 per kg. So this is the best option to beat the price rise."

Explaining the economics of the business he said, "Prices of all food items have gone up but the per plate price of momos and soup available on the street has remained the same. Buying dead chicken brings no harm and instead helps you survive in the business. That is what all do."

After an hour, the trucks returned and the drivers now started striking the deal for the dead birds. On an average there are 15-20 dead chicken on every truck.

The first truck driver had eight dead chicken in his truck which were sold for Rs 400 and the total weight of the chicken was just 22 kg. The next truck which came in had only 10 dead chicken in it. Mid Day reporters along with other customers then purchased these 10 dead chicken out of which the reporters kept four for the price of Rs 200.

On asking the truck drive if the delivery of these dead birds can be made an permanent feature at their restaurant, he replied, "Bhai poori Delhi yahi se khareedti hai aur tum toh naye ho (whole Delhi buys it from here and you guys are new). No one is sure how many chickens will die during transportation from a poultry farm near Panipat. We also have some fixed customers, so you need to come here everyday."u00a0

MiD Day also enquired from other local vendors and stall owner near the area about the sale of dead chickens. "You have to do everything from striking the deal to taking dead chicken out of the cage on your own. People even come in cars to buy them. Their demand is maximum during party season," said a tea stall owner.
He further added, "Many local food joint owners near Paharganj and Karol bagh area are regular takers of these dead chicken. But they claim to boil them before use."

u00a0 "No one is sure about the cause of their death. It could be some diseases too. Everyone should avoid consuming meat of animal which die during transportation. However, Indian cooking involves boiling of meat and vegetables at very high temperature which make food fit to eat but still selling the meat of dead animal is unethical," said Dr. Shyam Lal Gupta who runs a private veterinary clinic at Laxmi Nagar area.u00a0

Rs 420
Cost of a 3 kg chicken at your local meat shop
Rs 50
Price of a chicken of around the same weight when it's dead
Rs 30
Cost of a plate of momo

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