Himalayan Yak, now a Food animal: FSSAI

Himalayan Yak (scientific name Bos grunniens) has been identified as a ‘Food animal’. The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently approved the proposal submitted by National Research Centre (NRC-Yak) in 2021, for designating Yak as a food animal.

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Himalayan Yak (scientific name Bos grunniens) has been identified as a ‘Food animal’. The Food Safety and Standard Authority of India (FSSAI) has recently approved the proposal submitted by National Research Centre (NRC-Yak) in 2021, for designating Yak as a food animal.

The approval comes after a recommendation from the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying. According to NRC at Dirang (Arunachal Pradesh), Food Animals are those animals that are raised and used for food production or consumption by humans. 

The decision was made after the latest census of 2019 which showed that India has around 58,000 yaks. This was around 25% drop from the last livestock census carried out in 2012. By identifying Yak as a part of conventional milk and meat industry, the NRC-Yak is hoping that it will help check the decline in its population.

Yaks are reared by the pastoral nomads and are a major source of nutrition and livelihood in the high altitudes of the Himalayas, as hardly any other agricultural cultivation is done in the region. Yak milk is highly nutritious, rich in fat, contains essential minerals and also has medicinal value. Yak meat and milk products are largely produced and sold in Himalayan regions of India.

Dr Mihir Sarkar, Director of NRC-Yak said, “FSSAI’s recognition of Yak as food producing animal will help farmers benefit economically for rearing the animal and it will open up several vistas of economic benefits for both farmers and food processors”.