KARACHI: Describing chicken meat as “safe and healthy”, speakers at a seminar held on Thursday at Karachi University (KU) underscored the need for research in the field of poultry science and closer cooperation between academia and industry.

The event also brought into question the missing state role in supporting, regulating and monitoring the food industry that has left consumers with no guarantees about supplies of essential commodities, their prices and quality.

The seminar — ‘Poultry and its meat consumption’ — was jointly organised by KU’s department of food science and technology and the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA).

During the seminar which included a panel discussion, speakers from the poultry industry and WPSA rejected what they described as “myths and misconceptions” attached to chicken meat and argued that the widely held belief that growth hormones were administered to farmed chicken was “baseless” as their use would make the end product very costly and non-viable for the market.

Also, they told the audience, though chickens were vaccinated against different diseases, it didn’t have any residual impact on their meat. Poultry birds, they said, were treated with antibiotics only in case of illness and the bird was free of its residues by the time it’s ready for the market.

‘Govt role missing in ensuring food quality’

On the steep rise in chicken prices, especially in the recent weeks, Abdul Maroof Siddiqui of the Pakistan Poultry Association said the price fluctuation was directly linked with the economics of supply and demand.

“The prices have gone up recently because of the sudden increase in demand following withdrawal of Covid-19 related restrictions on public places and gatherings.

“There was a rush particularly for holding wedding ceremonies, which we saw being held both in morning and night. In Ramazan, there is more consumption of chicken, which automatically leads to price increase in chicken price.”

Explaining the fast growth of a broiler chick which gets ready for the market in six weeks, Dr Shahid Waheed said the main factors had to do with genetics, nutrition and farm management including skilled manpower.

Tracing how poultry science has developed over decades, he said a chicken was raised to have 1.4kg weight in 85 days in 1940.

Research and investment over the decades brought significant improvement in this sector and today a broiler weighing around 2kg to 2.5kg was ready for market in 35 days.

“Broiler chicken is an imported breed and genetically has the tendency to grow fast if provided with the right care and nutrition. The same is not possible with the local breed no matter what you feed it,” he said, adding that the broiler chicken was fed on fish meal, among other things, that contributed to weight gain.

Current chicken farm practices, he pointed out, were being done in a controlled environment with improved management practices and biosecurity measures.

“What is needed, however, are modern processing facilities with hygienic environment, routine inspection and pathogen-free processing.”

Chairperson of KU’s department of food science and technology Prof Shahina Naz highlighted the need for protein source for the human body and referred to a survey according to which 17 grams of meat was consumed per capita in Pakistan while worldwide the ratio was 25g per capita.

“People should eat all kinds of meat including mutton, beef and fish, as they all are major protein sources and important for human development.”

Absence of regulatory authority

Shakeel Baig of the Consumer Protection Rights Council shared concern over absence of a regulatory authority at the government level to monitor and maintain the quality of poultry meat and poor transportation which caused injuries to birds.

Poor cage conditions at shops and hot weather, he said, caused stress among animals, adversely impacting quality of meat.

WPSA vice president Waqar Alam regretted lack of research in the poultry field, arguing that it’s this gap which created confusion and hesitance among people for chicken meat and led to the spread of “baseless” information.

In his speech, KU acting Vice Chancellor Prof Khalid Iraqi said collaboration of academia and industry was essential to help identify problems and find solutions.

Published in Dawn, March 20th, 2021