CHENNAI: More and more Chennaiites seem to be welcoming a newer version of an age-old item into their weekly home-cooked biryanis and curries — ‘herbal’ chicken. Outlets like ‘Saravana Mooligai Chicken’ and Kongu brand’s recent ‘Herboo Chicken’ have jumped into the market, promising to do away with artificially-enhanced chicken. Their USP? No steroids and chemicals, the chicken is bred using organic feed.
“When we opted out of artificial growth enhancers to start this brand, the chicken automatically looked and smelt much more fresh and hygienic. First-time buyers who notice this are almost always repeat customers,” says Saravana, the proprietor of Saravana Mooligai Chicken, which will soon expand to a second branch in the city at Ramapuram, thanks to the sizeable demand.
Saravanan says they feed 48 different natural herbs (turmeric, millets and so on), 36 of which aid in reducing blood-sugar levels, serving not only regular but also diabetics. In the past year alone, the outlet near Porur has seen people coming from all over the city pick up a kilo of chicken, which costs only about `50 more than the market price. “People come from as far as Thiruvottiyur and Velachery to buy our chicken,” Saravanan beams, pointing to the FSSAI certification after having tested his chicken at a Namakkal-based institute.
Since the number antibiotics and growth hormones-injected into broiler chicken has multiplied over the years, the size of the chicken making its way to our plates has increased. But so have the risks. “Growth steroids injected into poultry heads make them at least 15-20% meatier. But because of this, unnecessary antibiotic resistance is built up in our bodies after years of consuming this artificially-enhanced chicken. It makes us immune to whatever type of antibiotic is introduced in the poultry,” says Gargi Jagan, a nutrition student.
But experts opine that although ‘herbal’ chicken is a better alternative, products that claim to be 100% natural have to be taken with a pinch of salt. “We offer a facility to test poultry for steroids and chemicals, but we must keep in mind that the results we obtain only apply to the produce of that particular batch or day. This is livestock and hence there could be differences from one day’s batch to another,” explains S Thilagar, vice chancellor of TANUVAS.
He adds that regular surprise tests have to be carried out by authorities to certify products as ‘green’ and ‘organic’ right from the soil to shelf stage.
“Though the move by more poultry managers towards organic farming is positive, it is a long and rigorous process to classify produce fed to the chicken as organic. Only food managed, packaged and transported following environmentally safe processes is ‘organic’ produce,” he added.”
‘Indians Will Consume 4.7K Tonnes of Chickens on Antiobiotics’
According to a study by American researchers, by 2030, Indians will consume over 4,700 tonnes of antibiotics-infused chicken. The study was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The same study predicted that China would be the number one consumer of antibiotics-laced chicken.
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