Fresh beef from Brazil can be served safe in Chennai

If you’re paranoid about whether the meat you procured from your friendly-neighbourhood-butcher comes from Andhra, Rajasthan or just about anywhere else, don’t panic.

It’s not always about the distance, but how well it is preserved and transported. If you need more proof, sample this - a sizeable portion of ‘regular’ meat served in Chennai’s luxury hotels come from as far as Brazil and New Zealand.

Though importing meat for fine dining restaurants is not something new, the increase in volume shows that hotels have sufficient faith in meat suppliers to deliver produce that is as fresh as it can be. “Usually, when suppliers ship fresh meat like scallops and Asian seafood, they ensure that it is airlifted as soon as possible in sealed containers with dry ice. As soon as it gets off the plane, it is brought to our hotels,” explains Mark Crocker, Corporate Chef, Raintree Hotels.

Is there any difference between the packaging standards that we see locally? “Vastly,” remarks Crocker, “Even fresh produce is kept at the exactly stipulate temperature (0-5 degrees C) throughout the 6-hour-flights and till it reaches our cold room,” he adds.

Unlike local meat transport, the amount of dry ice is pre-calculated for the variety of meat and how much is being shipped - and the exact amount is inserted and sealed.

Not only does the foreign meat come with proper health department certification and standard approvals, the quality of the meat is incomparable with local produce. “A lot of good meat cuts come to us from across the Atlantic and Europe. Lamb cuts from Australia and rack of lamb from New Zealand are of a quality that we just cannot get here,” explains Swapan Kumar Baidya, Executive Chef, Le Royal Meridien.

In fact, all the sausages and cured ham used by the Raintree group was initially imported from Sri Lanka, but they have now begun procuring the same all the way from Belgium.

 “There is a difference in price,” concedes Crocker, but adds that the difference in taste makes up for the economic scruples.

And yet, whether it is beef from Brazil, lamb from New Zealand or lobsters from Thailand, all hotels maintain that stringent quality checks are conducted with little partiality.

 “We check the local meats for rotting a little more than the imported meat, but that doesn’t mean that imported meat has no scrutiny,” says  Baidya.