Telangana has stood No. 1 in the meat-eaters in the country and the successor state of Andhra Pradesh, according to Registrar General of India survey of people aged 15 years and above. Turning to male and female among meat-eaters, 98.8 per cent of men in Telangana are non-vegetarians and 98.6 per cent of women in Telangana are meat-eaters.
West Bengal is next to Telangana i.e 2nd in meat consumption followed by Andhra Pradesh (3rd), Orissa (4th) and Kerala (5th). Rajasthan, Punjab, and Haryana top the list of states with the highest vegetarian population.
Interestingly, the survey spotted that there is drop in the consumption of meat as the overall percentage of non-vegetarians across the country came down to 71% from 75% in 2004.
Given the state's traditional eating habits, large number of non-vegetarians are in Telangana who eat a lot of chicken, lamb. The survey added that most of meat-eaters are from Hyderabad while vegetarians could probably be in equal ratio in other districts of Telangana.
Telangana has abundance of livestock. It's the second state with highest number of sheep and fourth state in highest poultry count. It produced 505 lakh metric tonnes of meat and 1,061crore eggs in 2014-15. Till November 2015, the state had produced 560 crore eggs and 264 lakh metric tonnes of meat - goat, lamb, chicken, beef and pork.
With both Telugu states ranking 1st and 3rd in the country in meat-eating, both the state governments should take strict measures on the quality of meat available in the market which has direct impact on the health of people.
