Srinagar, Sept. 8 -- More than a month since the rotten meat issue surfaced in Kashmir, hotel and restaurant businesses have been struggling to maintain the public trust with sales plunging to 20-30% of the normal. Continuing its crackdown on the unsafe meat, the food safety authorities on Sunday seized 340 kg consignment of unbranded and unlabelled meat outside Srinagar Airport after a tipoff by sales tax department, while J&K police on Saturday registered two FIRs against stockist and food sale points for storing and selling rotten and expired mutton items in central district of Ganderbal. As per official estimates, J&K, mostly the Kashmir Valley's population of 70 lakh, consumes over 600 lakh kg of mutton annually of which 350 lakh kg is brought from Rajasthan and Delhi. Officials say that most of the meat is brought in the form of live animals like goat and sheep while a "small portion" was being imported in packaged form, mostly beef, chicken and fish. Since the beginning of August, Kashmir has been rattled by a series of seizures of unlabelled rotten, unsafe or stale meat or its products meant to be distributed to some eateries of the valley. The recovery has shattered the trust of the local public and many of them have been avoiding restaurants and hotels. President Hotels and Restaurants Owners Association(HROA) Gowhar Maqbool said that the restaurant industry was facing a major impact of the rotten meat issue. "Unfortunate few people made a mistake and the whole industry, doing its dealings fairly and legally, is suffering now. Our association has 1,200 members in Srinagar and all are bearing the brunt. There are also three times more restaurants who are not our members and are facing the same fate," he said. The issue has also reached Jammu and Kashmir high court which issued notices to J&K government on August 20 after a PIL seeking intervention to prevent sale and distribution of rotten and unsafe meat and poultry in J&K. Officials of the Food and Drugs Administration said that they have recovered some 12,000 kg of unsafe meat in the month of August after the Zakura recovery. Firdous Ahmad, state nodal officer, food & drug administration, said that in a major drive they have suspended FSSAI Licenses of nine dealers selling meat, meat products, poultry and sweets. Four of them are operating in Srinagar and five of them are in the southern district of Anantnag. "Market checking is a continuous process and we have been issuing advisories from time to time," he said. Srinagar's prominent barbeque market at Khayam has lost its sheen in wake of the loss of a major clientele base. "We have lost 70% of our customers to this issue and only a small 20-30% people have returned who have earned our trust over the years," said president of Khayam Barbeque Association, Bilal Ahmad. "The recovery will take a long time," he said. Ahmad said that the food safety authorities and government should make public the names of the dealers and seller who were found in storing and selling rotten meat to clear the names of others....