Emu slaughter house to come up on Hubli outskirts

HUBLI: An emu slaughter house -- where the huge birds will be slaughtered and their meat processed in a hygienic way is taking shape on the outskirts of the city. Indo-Aussie Emu Farm, which is installing the project at Sulla village at a cost of Rs 2 crore has plans to export the meat besides supplying for domestic consumption.
Farm proprietor Vinny John said though there is a huge demand for emu meat in big restaurants of Goa, Bangalore etc., most of them were not ready to buy the meat in the absence of proper slaughtering facility.Now they will have no problem in buying the meat. He said the farm has received certification from the health department of government of Karnataka to slaughter the birds.
The installation works of the slaughter house and two cold storage units having a storage capacity of two tonnes each will be completed by December end. The slaughtering machine has been imported from Germany. Once it is done, initially 50-60 birds will be slaughtered on a daily basis. The farm which has helped around 60 farmers take up emu farming in several parts of the state by providing chicks will buy back the grown up birds from them. He said the demand for emu meat has gone up several folds in the domestic market.
He said he has got advance orders mainly from Iraq, Iran, Mecca and Goa. The meat which will be exported to Muslim countries will be of purely Halal standard, he added.
Red meat is healthy too
According to Vinny John, who is currently doing a research on emu breeding in University of Western Australia, the Australian origin bird was first brought to India by an American NRI about 10 years ago who set up a farm in Andhra Pradesh. Then it spread to Maharasthra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and northern states. The promoters of emu rearing have been regularly organizing food festivals in metros where emu dishes are served for people to develop a taste for the red meat and appreciate its medicinal value. Emu meat is 98 per cent fat-free and rich in protein and vitamin E, Vinny says.