HIMALAYAN YAK

Description

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Context: The Himalayan yak has been accepted as a food animal by the scientific panel of Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI), after recommendation from Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying (DAHD). After this, it will be finally notified in the gazette after approval of competent authority.

Details:

The categorisation is expected to help check the decline in the population of the high-altitude bovine animal by making it a part of the conventional milk and meat industry.
Yaks are traditionally reared under a transhumance system which is primitive, unorganised and full of hardship.
But the yak population in the country has been decreasing at an alarming rate, data provided by the NRC-Y said. According to a census carried out in 2019, India has some 58,000 yaks – a drop of about 25% from the last livestock census conducted in 2012.
The drastic decline in yak population could be attributed to less remuneration from the bovid, discouraging the younger generations from continuing with nomadic yak rearing. It is mainly because yak milk and meat are not a part of the conventional dairy and meat industry, their sale is limited to local consumers.
NRC-Y scientists believe the commercialisation of yak milk and meat products will lead to entrepreneurship development. But for that the yak has to be included as a food producing (milk and meat) animal in the Food Safety and Standards Regulation, 2011.
The FSSAI’s recognition will help farmers rear the yak economically and open up several vistas of economic benefits for both farmers and food processors.
Research at the NRC-Y has revealed yak milk is highly nutritious, rich in fat, contains essential minerals and has medicinal values.
Mostly consumed locally, yak meat is known to be lean. The meat contains 74.8% moisture, 21.7% protein, 1.5% crude fat and 1.2% ash.

About:

Yaks belong to the genus Bos and are therefore related to cattle (Bos primigenius species).
Domestic Yak (Bos Grunniens) descended from the wild yak (Bos mutus).
Yak is found throughout the Himalayan region -- Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, North Bengal, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir -- while wild Yak is found in Tibet. It is also found as far north as Mongolia and Russia.