Sample collection this week; farmers object to ‘trial by media’
The Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSA) will test both meat and poultry feed to ascertain the quality of chicken in the market. The move comes in the wake of reports that meat tested positive for antibiotics residue in the national capital. FSSA sources said on Monday that samples would be gathered this week. The tests would be conducted at laboratories outside the State.
FSSA sources said traces of antibiotics may be found in the meat for four days to two weeks depending on the type of medicine used. If residue was found, its source had to be established. The source of harmful substances could be poultry feed too, they added.
Chicken farmers in the State have denied using harmful substances to fatten birds or prevent diseases. They appealed to health authorities to conduct tests to bring out the truth. A meeting of the Kerala State Poultry Farmers’ Association here on Monday slammed the “trial by the media which could end in a market crash for the product.”
President of the Poultry Farmers’ Association Baiju Kadavan said the public’s fear in this regard could cause much harm to about two lakh small and marginal farmers in the State. Many of them, he said, were subsistence farmers tending 1,000 to 2,000 birds. In Palakkad and Malappuram, some customers had already expressed apprehension, he said.
Sources at the Meat Products of India and the Kerala Poultry Development Corporation, the government-backed meat suppliers in the State, denied any adverse impact on the market so far of the Delhi chicken test results and local media reports. Chicken price hovered above Rs.100 a kg in the retail market. At one store, the price was Rs.108.
Tests in Delhi showed antibiotics residue
Poultry farmers deny using harmful substances
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