A team from the Ministry of Livestock on Friday inspected five butcheries in Lagankhel, Lalitpur and ordered closure of four that failed standard operating guidelines.

State Minister for Agriculture and Livestock Development Ram Kumari Chaudhary led the team of inspectors Friday morning.

The monitoring team found that four out of five butcheries operated without following standard guidelines on registration, cleanliness and sold unhealthy meat products.

The Department of Livestock Services Director General Bimal Kumar Nirmal said slaughterhouses owned by Mukesh Khadgi (RK Meat Shop), Saroj Shahi (A One Meat Shop), and those operated by Dev Khadgi and Sunil Khadgi were not registered. The department has banned them from selling/buying meat products until they upgrade their butcheries to the prescribed standards.

“These slaughterhouses violated cleanliness standards. They also sold meat of female buffalo instead of male buffalo,” said Nirmal.

“We had warned the slaughterhouses earlier to conform to the given standards, but since they ignored our warning. Consequently, we have ordered them to close their outlets.”

The seriousness of the government’s inspection drive against bad meat shops can be assuaged from their decision to give officials from Metropolitan Office and police the authority to destroy all bad and unhygienic meat products confiscated from the outlets.

State Minister Chaudhary said the teams would continue to monitor and regulate butchery shops that violate norms and put consumers lives at risk.