MONITOR IMPACT: Govt issues advisory on use of antibiotics in poultry farms

Srinagar, Mar 06: Drugs and Food Control Organization Tuesday issued an advisory for poultry farm dealers, asking them to stop use of antibiotics in their farms three days prior to supplying chicken to the market.
The Kashmir Monitor last week reported that antibiotics in huge quantity were fed to the chicken in poultries to enhance their growth and immunity in limited period.
These antibiotics including widely used Colistin have been banned by the WHO, if used as growth promoters in consumable animals.
As per the statement by D&FCO, the antibiotics if fed to the chicken shall be administrated under veterinary supervision.
“Strict action under the law would be initiated against violators,” the statement said.
Each year, Kashmir gets around one crore live chicken from Jammu, Haryana, and Punjab, where the birds are majorly raised on antibiotics.
A Delhi-based research firm, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) also carried out a research that showed “high multidrug resistance” in poultry farms in Haryana and Punjab.
The use of antibiotics animals, as such, has been banned in most European and Asian countries including in Nepal, Bangladesh and China.
Poultry experts in Kashmir have raised concern over the use of antibiotics in poultry farms, who describe it harmful for humans.
“When you eat chicken sourced from poultry raised on growth promoters, you ingest antibiotic-resistant bacteria that were harboured within the chicken, making you critically ill. No. Heating doesn’t break down all of the antibiotic residues that may have remained within the meat. Some are left behind, and those are the dangerous ones,” said Dr Mir Umul Qurra, a researcher in veterinary microbiology and immunology at SKUAST-K.