The categorization is expected to check the decline in the population of the high-altitude bovine, the National Research Centre on Yak said.
RH Desk
November 29
Himalayan yak has been categorized as a food animal by Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI).
The categorization is expected to check the decline in the population of the high-altitude bovine, the National Research Centre on Yak said.
The Himalayan yak has been accepted as a food animal by the scientific panel of FSSAI, after recommendation from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD), a report in The Hindu said.
After this, it will be finally notified in the gazette after approval of the competent authority.
Mihir Sarkar, the director of the National Research Centre on Yak (NRC-Y) based in Arunachal Pradesh’s Dirang, said his institution had submitted a proposal to the FSSAI in 2021 for considering the yak as a food animal.
The FSSAI responded with an official approval a few days ago after a recommendation from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying.
“The yak plays a multidimensional socio-cultural-economic role for the pastoral nomads who rear it mainly for earning their nutritional and livelihood security due to the lack of other agricultural activity in the higher reaches of the Himalayan region where it is difficult for animals except the yak to survive,” Sarkar said
Yaks are traditionally reared under a transhumance system which is primitive, unorganised and full of hardship. But the yak population in the country has been decreasing at an alarming rate, data provided by the NRC-Y said.
According to a census carried out in 2019, India has some 58,000 yaks – a drop of about 25% from the last livestock census conducted in 2012. Apart from the government and the local users, the drastic drop in the yak’s number has become a major cause of concern for animal genetic diversity conservationists.
The drastic decline in yak population could be attributed to less remuneration from the bovid, discouraging the younger generations from continuing with nomadic yak rearing. It is mainly because yak milk and meat are not a part of the conventional dairy and meat industry, their sale is limited to local consumers.
NRC-Y scientists believe the commercialization of yak milk and meat products will lead to entrepreneurship development. But for that the yak has to be included as a food-producing (milk and meat) animal in the Food Safety and Standards Regulation, 2011, they said.
“The FSSAI’s recognition will help farmers rear the yak economically and open up several vistas of economic benefits for both farmers and food processors,” Sarkar said.
