President Alberto Fernandez’s authorities ends previous follow on hygiene and well being grounds in beef-mad Argentina.
(AFP Archive)
The conventional picture of an Argentinian butcher weighed down by half a cow carcass on his again might be consigned to historical past after a authorities ruling.
Since coming to energy in 2019, the centre-left authorities of President Alberto Fernandez has been decided to finish the follow on hygiene and well being grounds.
It dominated on Monday that the “half-animal” lower may be preserved — however butchers are now not allowed to hold it on their again.
A butcher bent double beneath the massive lower is a widely known scene in beef-mad Argentina, the place residents eat virtually 48 kilogrammes of the meat a 12 months per capita, in line with official statistics.
But the “half-animal” can weigh greater than 100 kilogrammes, a crushing load for even the sturdiest butcher.
“The debate is about whether we continue commercialising beef like 150 years ago,” Agriculture Secretary Juan Jose Bahillo mentioned lately.
Division over follow
The sector itself was divided over the long-running subject.
Some have been in favour of modernisation and stopping massive items of meat from coming into contact with totally different surfaces.
But many argued that new guidelines would profit main exporters to the detriment of smaller producers with out the means to put money into new equipment.
A 2020 legislation lowered the utmost weight of a beef lower that may be carried by an individual to 25 kilogrammes.
That was amended the following 12 months to 32 kilogrammes, however authorities nonetheless wished to get rid of the half-animal lower.
This week, a compromise was discovered.
The half-animal lower stays, nevertheless it should be moved from vans utilizing a pulley and rail system, the Agriculture Ministry mentioned.
The new legislation shall be phased in “systematically and progressively,” it added.
Source: AFP
