(NP) - Nepali poultry products laced with antibiotics

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Your health, our concern: Beware! Meat products are laced with antibiotics

Merina Sharma Kathmandu, December 14:

http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullstory.asp?filename=aFanata0wkqzpba6Wa9va.axamal\

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Meat products, mainly poultry products, have become the main course in our

meals, but it is high time we thought about their impact on our health.

These poultry are fed antibiotics and our bodies become resistant to

antibiotics as we consume these products for long.

 

The Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC) recently

conducted a test on antibiotic residue (Tetracycline), which

is an antibiotic commonly found in poultry.

 

Testing of 26 samples in the market revealed that muscles of chicken meat

had 46 per cent of the antibiotic residue, skin had 12 per cent, gizzard

had 53 per cent, liver had 46 per cent and heart had 15 per cent antibiotic

residue.

 

Antibiotics like Tetracycline, Penicillin, Erythromycin, which are

important in human medication, are extensively fed to poultry. “Through the

consumption of poultry products laced with these drugs, our body is

becoming resistant to antibiotics,” said Dr Meg Raj Bhandari, a food

scientist at the Department of Food Technology and Quality Control (DFTQC).

 

According to Bhandari, small amounts of veterinary medicines remain in meat

products and they make their way into the food chain and cause a number of

health problems, including allergies and chronic toxic effects. “The

poultry feeds are also unhealthy. Chemicals and additives, which are used

in poultry feed haphazardly, poison poultry products,” said Bhandari.

 

Though Aflatoxin is one of the most potent carcinogens, it is used in

poultry feed. “Exposure to large dosage may cause acute toxicity and also

the high incidences of hepatitis B virus infection,” added Bhandari. A data

of the DFTQC shows that out of 68 feed samples analysed, 47 were found

substandard.

 

Dr Manohar Gupta, chief, General Practice and Emergency Medicine Department

at the Teaching Hospital, said that poultry feed is excessively

contaminated and they cause heart, kidney and liver problems. Poultry

farming has become a commercial practice in the country. Poultry are dosed

daily with antibiotics and growth hormones to hasten growth. “People are

consuming poultry products with excess growth hormones to try to gain

height,” Gupta said. “Vegetarianism is the best option, but it is difficult

to stop eating meat. People should take minimum quantity of meat to

minimise risks,” he added.

 

The DFTQC is the body authorised to implement poultry feed law in the

country. Uttam Kumar Bhattarai, director-general of the DFTQC, said they

lack authentic figures due to lack of equipment and other constraints. But

we are planning to launch an extensive research on the topic from the next

year,” he said.

 

 

Consume poultry products at your own risk

• Chickens are fed antibiotics to hasten growth

• People are developing resistance to antibiotics due to intake of such

poultry products

• Vegetarianism is the best option, says doctor