Jackfruit sales up as Covid-19 scare eats into meat biz

LUCKNOW The coronavirus scare has had a visible impact on the sale of mutton and chicken in the city. Those engaged in the business said people were avoiding consumption

LUCKNOW The coronavirus scare has had a visible impact on the sale of mutton and chicken in the city. Those engaged in the business said people were avoiding consumption of meat, thinking it was a carrier of the deadly virus.

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But experts said that coronavirus does not spread by consumption of chicken, mutton or seafood.

“We have witnessed a drastic fall in sales of mutton and chicken. On an average, I used to sell more than 30kg chicken and meat of three goats in a day. But now, the chicken sale has gone down to 10kg while meat of only one goat is being sold,” said Mohammed Azad, a meat seller in Gomti Nagar.

Azad said the dip in sales has also brought down the rates of chicken from Rs 220 to Rs 160 a kg and mutton is sold at Rs 450, down from Rs 600 a kg.

At a time when meat business is down due to coronavirus scare, the sale of ‘katahal’ (jackfruit) has gone up as it is emerging as an ‘acceptable alternative’. “It is better having ‘katahal biryani’ instead of mutton biryani as it’s not the time to take any chances,” said Puneet Singh, a college student.

The coronavirus scare has hit the poultry business so hard that the Poultry Farm Association recently organized a ‘Chicken Mela’ in Gorakhpur to dispel the misconception that birds were carriers of the deadly virus.

“In fact, we gave away plateful of chicken dishes for Rs 30 to encourage people to savour the delicacies. We cooked 1,000 kilograms of chicken for the Mela and the entire stock was sold out,” said Vineet Singh, head of the Poultry Farm Association.

However, the Mela did not do much to dispel the fears about chicken, mutton or fish consumption amid the virus outbreak.