Cattle slaughter woes prompt Nitta Gelatin to look into bone imports

KOCHI: The Centre's ban on the sale and purchase of cattle for slaughter from animal markets has hit one of India's top two gelatin-makers, Nitta Gelatin India (NGIL), as the chief ingredient to make gelatin ­­ cattle bones ­­ is hard to come by these days.

Faced with difficulty in raw material procurement and fluctuating bone prices, the Japanese-India joint venture company is now looking at importing bones.

"Since the order banning the sale and purchase of cattle in markets for slaughter has affected the movement of cattle, supply of bones has been hit," said Sajiv K Menon, managing director of the company. The crushed bones are used to make ossein, the intermediate product from which gelatin ­­is made, a key raw material for the pharmaceutical and food industry.

"The bone collection system in the country is highly fragmented and bones need to be cleaned before use. Imported bones are cleaned in mechanised abattoirs and hence are better in quality. It is also cheaper at Rs 23kg compared with 27kg in India," said Menon.