Beef and mutton are the most popular types of red meat among the city dwellers. In the market a kilogram of beef sells at a price of Tk180 to Tk200 and the price of mutton is around Tk260 to Tk280, sometimes even more. Buffalo meat on the other hand has very little demand in the market.

During a visit to the Gabtoli cattle market it was discovered that the rear end of the market is full of healthy buffalos waiting to be sold. Cows and goats stand at the front blocking the view of the rear end. Naturally, the question arises, if there is no demand for buffalo meat in the market then where do the buffaloes actually end up?

City residents consume around six thousand cows and goats daily. The biggest sell takes place at Gabtoli, the largest cattle market in the city. The Hassil gate at the market keeps records of every purchase that walks out of the market and collects tax from every sell.

According to the tax collector of Hassil gate, Gabtoli makes a sell of around 1600 cows and buffaloes everyday.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays the sell increases to around 2000 cows and buffaloes as the city prepares for weddings and other special occasions on Fridays. During special festivals the demand increases up to around seven or eight thousands per day.

Supply of cows and buffaloes comes from all around the country, however the largest fraction arrives from the border areas of Kushtia, Dinajpur, Chapainawabganj, Rajshahi, Jessore and Chuadanga. Some also arrive from the Dhamrai, Manikganj and Tangail areas.

One of the sellers at Gabtoli market told Star City that a large well-built buffalo provides around 6 mounds of meat whereas a cow gives about five mounds. The price of the buffalo would be around Tk20,000 to 25,000. A cow on the other hand costs around Tk30, 000 to 35,000. Sources from Dhaka City Corporation veterinary section confirmed the regular practice of mixing beef and buffalo. "It has been going on for years. We are regularly visiting kitchen markets. Mobile court is also operating regularly to prevent the malpractice", the official said.

"Butchers are supposed to keep a signboard declaring weather they have buffalo meat or not. But they only do that when we are around then they go back to their business the usual way", he added.

According to our source majority of the slaughtering takes place at Kaptanbazar, Moulovibazar in old part of Dhaka, in Karwanbazar, New Market, Mirpur section 1 and 11 and in Gulshan 1 kitchen market. These places are the biggest suppliers of meat in hotels.

Almost all the customers at Gabtoli are butchers. Every night at around 11pm they transport their purchase from Gabtali and they finish up slaughtering and meat preparation by dawn. The hotel owners of the city purchase the largest amount of meat.

"If a butcher buys three cows then he would definitely buy one buffalo with it," said one of the employees of the Hassil Gate.

The official from DCC also mentioned that the only way to end this practice is to develop modern slaughtering houses where there will be technology to process the meat and also modern packaging and seal system. It will also make the meat more hygienic he added.

"I have heard of rumours that butchers mix buffalo meat with beef. However, there is no way we can detect it during purchase. We cannot do anything in this regard," said one of hotel owners at Chankharpool, requesting anonymity.

"We are not willingly feeding customers buffalo meat. If the butchers do mix buffalo meat then the customers should know that it is considered a halal food," added another hotel owner, also requesting anonymity.

Buffalo meat has almost no demand in the market and it is generally not available in the meat shops. "It is an open secret that beef in the city has buffalo meat in it. We all know it, but we cannot do anything about it", said Haider Ali, a customer at Karwan Bazar kitchen market.

"We know that buffalo meat is halal and probably we have been consuming it for years without knowing, but when someone sells buffalo meat telling the customer that it is beef then he is definitely cheating," he added.

Butchers and meat sellers take capitalise on the low demand and low cost of buffalo meat by mixing it in with beef to make more profit from the high price of beef on the market. Meanwhile, the unsuspecting consumers are duped into paying high prices for something they did not mean to buy.

Butchers however, declined to admit to any wrongdoing.