FSSAI Approves Yak As 'Food Animal'

The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India FSSAI) has approved the Himalayan Yak as a food animal’.

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The move is expected to help check the decline in the population of the highaltitude bovine animal by making it a part of the conventional milk and meat industry, an official at the National Research Centre NRC) on Yak at Dirang in West Kameng district of Arunachal Pradesh said. Food Animals are those that are raised and used for food production or consumption by humans. The NRC-Yak had in 2021 submitted a proposal to the FSSAI, for considering the yak as a food animal. However, The FSSAI responded with an official approval recently after a recommendation from the department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying, NRCYak Director Dr Mihir Sarkar informed. The animal play multi-dimensional sociocultural-economic role for the pastoral nomads who rear yaks mainly for earning their nutritional and livelihood security due to virtual inexistence of other agricultural activity in th