The Hindu : Poultry farmers see no threat of avian flu

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Poultry farmers see no threat of avian flu

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 7. Indian poultry is absolutely safe and consumers can enjoy their chicken without worrying about the avian flu threat, assured members of the Poultry Federation of India (PFI) and the Northern India Poultry Breeders Association (NIPBA) at a joint Press conference here in the Capital today.

The PFI and NIPBA have demanded that the Central Government intervene on behalf of the small farmers and chicken breeders and bring in some immediate confidence building measures to reassure the consumers and save the raw chicken industry and the 20 lakh farmers depended on it.

Reassuring that India was free of the avian flu threat and that the customers were at no risk, the Federation lauded the efforts of the Central and State Departments of Animal Husbandry and extended its appreciation to officers for maintaining a constant vigil on the situation.

However, the farmers pointing to the disturbing fall in the wholesale price of chicken

and the shrinking market said "small farmers cater to 90 per cent of the country's chicken requirement and they are facing huge problems because of the crashing raw chicken prices. However, middleman continue to make money as prices of the chicken products have not fallen. We are also looking into the possibility of supplying to the consumers directly,'' explained a farmer, Baljit Singh.

The farmers present at the conference claimed that the chicken they were supplying was safe as they have adopted various measures including sprucing up the already existing bio-security measures in farms, hatcheries, feed mills, transport mode etc. Also doctors were checking the birds regularly at various diagnostic labs to ensure that every chicken sold was healthy and safe to consume.

"People can continue to consume the meat as the avian flu is not a food-borne virus which essentially means that the virus is destroyed while cooking because of the excessive heat. Also the virus is carried by the chicken's gut, a part that gets disposed of at the point of purchase itself,'' explained the PFA northern region president, Shabbir. A. Khan.

The PFI, along with the NIPBA, is organising an education camp at the main mandi on Sunday to educate the sellers about how to handle and store the meat. Offering precautionary measures for the consumers, the Federation explained that the virus gets destroyed under ordinary temperature and can also be inactivated by conventional cleaning procedures using soaps and detergents. Also they noted that when the virus leave the carrier its survival in the ambient temperature above 20 degree Celsius is not possible. The customers can consume the chicken as they normally would but they need to make sure that the chicken is bought from hygienic sources.

Meanwhile, to provide information about the flu, Directorate of Animal Husbandry, Delhi Government has started a helpline where consumers can call 26892731 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on all working days. Also the PFI has provided the numbers -- 9811172777, 9811061516, 9811508838 and 9811191434 -- where consumers can call from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on all days for any questions about chicken safety.

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