Technology interventions like connected smart refrigeration can solve some dimensions of the concerns arising out recent discovery of rotten mutton across valley efficiently paving way for active regulation by the food safety authorities.
Backgrounder – The entire valley is shocked after the recent cumulative seizure of around 11,000 Kgs of unsafe and rotten meat in the form of ‘frozen’ mutton, kebabs and other delicacies which are sold to users directly or served in various restaurants to consumers.
There are three major concerns after this surfaced.
> Is the meat fresh and safe to consume?
> Was it slaughtered as per halal (the prescribed Islamic way of slaughtering) method?
> What all animals is this meat of?
According to The Hindu, quoting officials the annual consumption of mutton in Kashmir is 60,000 tonnes with more than half of it being procured from other states. While consumers prefer and procure fresh mutton from the traditional mutton shops in local vicinities, the increasing trend of outdoor dining along with serving tourists has seen a mushroom growth of restaurants and coffee shops in past few years. Other than these, the consumption of mutton in the form of barbeque is also very popular in the valley and there is a place ‘Khayam’ which has become the barbeque hotspot in Srinagar.
Some families also find it difficult to purchase fresh mutton every time. So, they rely on frozen mutton and its preparations widely available across the departmental stores and store them in home in refrigerators to be consumed as per need. Some homes also have deep freezers. All this might be sounding like a reveal to people from outside Kashmir, who still feel the valley is cold as cucumber all through the year. Well, the effects of global warming are already visible. From an era when food would hardly get spoilt except for peak summer months to the present time when we need to refrigerate every food item to keep it consumable, Kashmir also hasn’t stayed aback from the changing adaptations in lifestyle and needs arising out of climate changes.
Solving the problem through technology – With the present level of technology available, we could solve 1 out of the 3 concerns highlighted earlier. If the slaughter has been done as per halal method or not, might not be solvable through technology now. However, I am certain, with advancements in image computing using AI and ML, this should also be solvable, but one can implement it only after achieving zero false positives. It’s not only with determining whether its halal or not, but anything to do with faith where technology could be potentially leveraged, we must only implement it after rigorous testing and certain about the results. For determining whether its slaughtered halal method, we might have to rely on existing certification process. However, there might be scope to revisit the entire certification process and technology be leveraged to make it efficient.
Similarly, which animal’s mutton is being sold again can be solved but needs the solution to mature after rigorous and extensive R&D and testing to achieve zero false positives.
Selling safe and fresh mutton – This is where the present technology can be effectively used. As per the government officials widely quoted in various media publications, the main issue is that the mutton isn’t stored as per the prescribed recommended norms. This coupled with unhygienic conditions of mutton warehouses rots them and makes it unsafe to consume. Additionally, they add harmful substandard colours, spices, etc., to further worsen the situation.
The government must step into active regulatory mechanism where they could receive active data about the health and quality of stored mutton. This can be done by designing a smart connected refrigerator for commercial use. We have several incubators now present in Kashmir valley who can collaborate with all relevant stakeholders including Department of Animal Husbandry, Faculty of Veterinary Sciences & Animal Husbandry Shuhama (SKAUST), Department of Consumer Affairs, National Institute of Technology, Mutton wholesalers, and others who could bring in relevant knowledge and learnings to make it a wholistically workable and adoptable solution.
The smart deep freezer essentially could include a narrow band IoT connectivity module which could send data in real time to the food safety department about temperature and odour and anything else that the experts would recommend need to be captured. We have frequent power cuts which must be hampering round the clock refrigeration. If appropriate sensors are deployed, it could also send the data about the downtime and the resulting degradation in the ambient conditions of the warehouse. This real-time active regulation of the mutton warehousing in the valley would continuously transmit health status of the mutton and the conditions in which it is stored.
A real time dashboard centralised with the food safety department would keep them updated about all the warehouses and they could proactively ensure that the mutton and it’s ready to eat preparations are served in fresh and hygienic conditions. At the same time, the regulator could mandate the warehouse owners to record information such as ageing of the mutton batch, source, etc., so that such information is also available for necessary inspections.
While some data pipes could be opened for the regulator, the other data that could help the owner in business efficiency can also be captured through this ‘smart refrigerator’ like inventory management, pricing, etc.
Conclusion – The other alternative is to go for a full-scale CA storage for mutton. However, that is primarily used for extending the shelf life significantly. In the present challenge, the refrigeration technique doesn’t fail in efficiently storing mutton in a consumable condition. It is more about if the prescribed guidelines are followed properly. The present random inspection system is not efficient and cannot regularly inspect all the mutton warehouses. Also, it cannot stop from the rotting of mutton, it can only verify the status meaning loss to everyone.
CA storage of mutton also would increase the investments substantially making it unviable for small to medium scale mutton wholesalers who use commercial grade deep freezers for warehousing. It will throw them out of business. With addition of a smart connectivity module along with requisite sensors, their existing refrigerators can continue to be used even if these are chiller rooms where they have stored mutton.
We have to find out ways of solving this problem which is a win-win for all rather than thinking of anything radical that displaces the existing solutions and systems. It’s more about how we can improve what exists any solution we think should first attempt how to make the present system efficient which is acceptable to all. This has been beautifully put by Mr Anil Swarup (IAS), former coal secretary of India in his podcast with Raj Shamani where he says, “An idea should be politically acceptable, socially desirable, technologically feasible, financially viable and environmentally sustainable.”
Finally, tech can always aide and support a solution. It cannot solve everything of a problem that may have roots in greed, wrong profiteering, etc. While we encourage tech interventions, the social engineering needs to play along.
