WBLDC to set up meat processing plant at Phansidewa

Kolkata: West Bengal Livestock Development Corporation (WBLDC), that comes under the aegis of state Animal Resources Development department, is setting up a chicken and pork processing plant at Phansidewa in Darjeeling district. The unit will cater to the huge demand of meat in North Bengal and the North-Eastern states.

"We have a 3.5 metric tonne capacity processing unit of chicken and pork of at Haringhata in Nadia. Frozen meat and a plethora of value added products made from meat are sold in 230-odd outlets in the state, under the brand name Haringhata Meat. However, the transportation cost for taking these items to North Bengal is very high. The unit at North Bengal will put an end to this problem," said Gouri Shankar Koner, Managing Director of WBLDC.

It may be mentioned that the processing unit at Phansidewa will have a 7 metric tonnes per day capacity, which is double that of Haringhata. The state government is investing Rs 32 crore for the project, which is expected to be operational by May/June this year.

"There is a huge demand of quality meat in North-Eastern states as well as neighbouring countries like Nepal and Bhutan. Once the unit in North Bengal is in place, we will be tapping this tremendous export potential," Koner said.

It may be mentioned that Bhutan has substantial demand for meat, particularly pork.

Some leading restaurants in the city and some online food suppliers also procure frozen meat from WBLDC. "Once the unit at North Bengal becomes functional, we will supply to hotels in North Bengal as well," a senior official said.

Popular food items like chicken cutlets, kebabs, nuggets, chicken sausages, chicken popcorn etc. are now being sold at attractive prices from the outlets of Haringhata Meat. Pork items like salami, bacon and sausages also have a reasonable demand.

Stalls were set up at various puja pandals in the city during Durga Puja last year and the response was overwhelming.

In March last year, Haringhata Meat had launched 'Meat on Wheels', in which vehicles travelled to areas like Dakshinapan in Dhakuria, Gariahat, Beleghata-Bypass connector and some other places, with a wide range of ready-to-eat and frozen packaged meat items.