Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 18 (IANS): A survey conducted in Kerala by Animal Husbandry and Dairying has revealed that the consumption of beef has marginally reduced, while the consumption of pork has gone up for the fiscal 2018-19, over 2017-18.

While in 2017-18 2.57 lakh tonnes of meat was consumed (1.59 lakh tonnes of cow meat and 0.98 lakhs of buffalo meat), during 2018-19 it stood at 2.49 lakh tonnes (1.52 lakh tonnes of cow meat and 0.97 lakh tonnes of buffalo meat).

Likewise, the consumption of pork went up from 6,880 tonnes in 2017-18 to 7,110 tonnes in 2018-19.

Early this week, a row had broken out after Twitter handle, @Kerala Tourism posted a photo of a popular local delicacy called "Beef Ularthiyathu" on their website, along with a link to the recipe.

Soon thereafter came numerous posts slamming Kerala Tourism forcing Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran to say that this is nothing but a needless controversy taken forward by communal fanatics and that in Kerala no one links food with religion.

All forms of meat (beef, mutton and chicken) in the state are sold openly in markets and in select shops.