Locally discarded offal reaches international markets from the streets of Punjab
FAISALABAD:
What many households discard as waste after Eidul Azha becomes a valuable source of income for nomadic communities and health workers, who collect animal remains and sell them in local and international markets.
For Abdul Ghafoor, a nomad who lives in a tent along Sargodha Road, Eid is the most profitable time of the year.
He said the seasonal increase in waste from slaughtered animals provides him with an income he can’t match during the rest of the year.
He explained that a specific part of cattle intestines, locally referred to in trade jargon as “Chodra”, has significant commercial value.
According to him, he removes a football-sized portion of the stomach lining attached to the intestines and sells it to local dealers for Rs 800 to Rs 1,000, earning immediate cash.
He said these middlemen clean, salt and dry the material before selling it to large traders, particularly in Karachi, from where it is reportedly exported to China.
In China, it is further processed for use in medical manufacturing, including surgical sutures used in operations around the world.
These finished products are also imported to Pakistan for use in hospitals and medical institutions.
Ghafoor claimed that by collecting such materials in urban and rural areas during Eid, he earns more than Rs 100,000 on the first day alone.
He added that competition over collection often leads to disputes with municipal sanitation workers, particularly those associated with “Suthra Punjab”, as both groups consider the material to be very valuable.
An official from the district Livestock Department, Dr Suhail Anjum, explained that large ruminants such as cows and buffaloes have four stomach compartments: rumen, reticulum, omasum and abomasum.
He said the part commonly harvested and sold in trade is the omasum, which plays a role in digestion and consists of multiple thin layers of tissue.
He added that in the international meat and medicine supply chain, especially in exports to China, processed omasum (also known as beef tripe) is used in industrial applications, including the production of surgical sutures and other medical materials.
Dr Anjum noted that this seasonal trade has become a profitable informal industry, which is why both nomadic collectors and sanitation workers actively compete for access to the material during Eid.
He said this competition often results in clashes at landfills.
He further stated that the livestock by-product market experiences a sharp increase during Eid, turning what is normally waste into a temporary but highly lucrative economic opportunity for many low-income workers.
