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Buffalo meat is the meat of the water buffalo, a large bovid raised for its milk and meat in many countries including India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Italy, Russia, Czechoslovakia, and Egypt.

Buffalo meat is known by various names in different countries. In some places it is known as buffen, or buff in Nepal, and carabeef in the Philippines, Thailand and some Southeast Asian countries. Meat taken from a buffalo younger than 20 months is known as padwa in India and Pakistan. Buffalo calves are often referred to as buffalo broilers and brought up exclusively on milk for the purpose of being slaughtered young for meat.

Social significance

Due to the religious importance of cows in India and Nepal, there is a need to differentiate buffen from beef. In countries like India, for religious and cultural reasons, most of the population does not eat cow meat. In a large number of the Indian states and in Nepal, slaughtering cows is prohibited. Communal violence sometimes happens over cow slaughter or even over suspected beef consumption. Buffen is, however, widely eaten in these areas. Buffaloes are, in fact, ritually sacrificed by both Muslims and non-Muslims in the Indian subcontinent.

Differences from beef

Buffaloes are a type of cattle, but their meat is different from beef in many respects. The major differences between buffen and beef are:

• The fat of buffen is milky white while the fat of beef is yellow-white.
• Buffen has a lower fat content.
• Buffen is darker in color.
• Buffen has harder bones.

Buffen has a lower muscle pH of 5.6±0.4 whereas beef muscle has a pH of 6.4±0.7. It also has a significantly smaller amount of collagen in the muscle, but the species did not differ significantly in the degree of intramuscular collagen cross-linking.

Production

Buffalo have exceptional muscular development and they have a heavy weight, some weighing more than a tonne. The main agricultural use of buffalo is to obtain milk. India has the largest number of buffalo and is the largest producer of its milk, producing nearly 57 million tonnes of it annually. This accounts for 67% of global production. Slaughtering buffalo for meat is a secondary agricultural priority.

Buffen from young buffalo has a much better quality as they have a higher proportion of muscle and a lower proportion of fat as compared to other cattle meat. The highest quality buffen is known as "padwa", taken from a buffalo younger than 20 months.

India accounts for about 43% of the world buffen production, with Uttar Pradesh producing the maximum, followed by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. In the 21st century, buffen production in India has been growing and has increased from 4.1 million tonnes CWE (carcass weight equivalent) in 2014 to 4.3 million tonnes CWE in 2015.

In India during the calendar year 2014-2015 consumption estimates are forecast to rise 3.1% and 3.5% to 2.1 and 2.175 million tonnes CWE, the US Department of Agriculture report said. Reportedly, more young consumers are willing to explore new foods, including buffen, which may eventually drive future demand.

Quality parameters of buffen

For centuries buffalo have been used as draught animals as they have good muscular development. Buffalo are generally fed on coarse feeds; they convert them into the protein-rich lean meat. Buffalo can be suitably grown in countries having poor feed resources. Thus, buffalo are generally raised using straw crop residues and they are very cheap to feed. Some can work until the age of 30.

When buffalo are reared up to 20 months and fed with milk, their meat is of high quality. The buffen is lean and rich in protein and less fatty than cattle. This has created a high demand for buffen among health-conscious consumers (Desmond, 1990). Buffalo may also be more resistant to disease than cattle. The nutrient requirements of buffalo steer constitute 1.8 Kg TDN, 6.6 MCal ME, 0.24 Kg DCP, 11 g P and 14 g Ca. On ad libitum and high concentrate (75:25) based rations the growth rate is 610 g/day (with feed efficiency of 7:1). The protein content in buffen is higher than chicken, and due to this buffen is also called poor people’s protein.

Indian export

India is one of the world’s biggest exporters of buffen. According to US Department of Agriculture India leads over the next highest exporter-Brazil. In 2015, India exported more than 2.4 million of buffen and its allied products. Brazil exported 2 million tonnes and Australia 1.5 million tonnes. These three countries constitute 58.7% of all buffen exports. India has 23.5% of global buffen exports. In FY2014, the export share of India was 20%.

According to data obtained from Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), most of India’s export is to Asian countries, which import more than 80 percent while African countries import around 15%. Within Asia, Vietnam imports 45% of the buffen exported from India.

Buffen exports from India have been growing at an average of approximately 14% yearly since 2011 and fetched more than $4.8 billion in 2014. Last year was the first time India has earned more from the export of buffen than it did from Basmati rice exports.

Several databases, such as Agricultural Outlook and United Nations Food show there is increasing trend of meat consumption in India. However, the data also shows that the consumption of buffen has been falling over the years, It has come down by (-) 44.5 per cent in 2014 from 2000. This fall in consumption has been taking place because of increase in price of buffen and health consciousness. Consumption of chicken went up by 31 percent in that period, showing that white meat is taking the place of red meat.

Gallery

• Buffen kebabs are an integral part of Awadhi cuisine, with Lucknow being known for such a dish
• Buffen qeema is a spicy dish, widely eaten in India
• The Thai dish Yam tin khwai is a spicy and sour Northern Thai soup made with the hoof of a water buffalo

See also

• Buffalo burger

References

1. Administrator. "Buffalo Meat Terminologies". www.buffalopedia.cirb.res.in. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
2. Administrator. "Buffalo Meat Terminologies". www.buffalopedia.cirb.res.in. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
3. "carabeef - Wiktionary". en.wiktionary.org. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
4. Ross C (1975). Alternative Livestock: with particular response to the water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis).In: Meat. 1st publication pp. 507 524.
5. Bhat PN, Lakshmanan V (1998). The Buffalo meat Industry in India. An over view. In: Buffalo prod. health. 1st publication. ICAR pp. 185-214.Ross, 1975; Bhat and Lakshmanan, 1998
6. "Mob kills suspected cattle smuggler in India". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2016-03-10.
7. "Mob in India Kills Muslim Man Over Rumors of Cow Slaughter". http://www.nytimes.com/. Retrieved 2016-03-10. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
8. C. Valin, A. Pinkas, H. Dragnev, S. Boikovski and D. Polikronov (1984), "Comparative study of buffalo meat and beef", Meat Science, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 69-84
9. Arganosa FC (1973). Evaluation of carabeef as a potential substitute for beef. Philippines Journal of Nutrition 26(2): 128-143.
10. "The Water Buffalo: New Prospects for an Underutilized Animal - Appropedia: The sustainability wiki". www.appropedia.org. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
11. Ranjan SK, Pathak NN (1979). Management and Feeding Of Buffaloes. pp 217-227. New Delhi, India: Vikas Publishing House. Desmond H (1990). Cattle and Buffalo Meat Production in the Tropics. 1st edition pp. 180-204.
12. Source: International Journal of livestock Production vol.1 (1), pp.001-005, August 2009
13. Raghavan, Sharad (10 August 2015). "India on top in exporting beef". The Hindu. Retrieved 12 February 2016.

Further reading

• Kondaiah N (2002). Meat and by-products.In: Handbook of Animal Husbandry. 3rd revised edition. pp. 950–975. New Delhi, India: DIPA, ICAR.

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• Water buffalo
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