ONKAR SINGH / NEW DELHI
Poultry, Fish and Meat are totally safe for consumption as the Coronavirus does not affect them. Briefing media here today, Union Minister Giriraj Singh said that the reports of World Organization for Animal Health, Food Safety and Standards Authority of India and Indian Council for Agricultural Research have proved that there is no known effect of COVID-19 on Poultry, Fish or Meat.
He said that the World Animal Health Organization in its report has stated that the virus is transmitted predominantly through human to human interaction.
Mr Singh added that poultry has not been found to be involved in the transmission of coronavirus to human so far in any report. He said that as this sector is credited with more than 35 per cent of the nutritional value of the food in the daily diet, any misconception will have negative effect on such parameters. Mr Singh said that farmers involved in these sectors are facing the undue brunt because of some rumours around corona virus in poultry, fish and meat.
Since early-January, farmgate prices of broiler birds in Maharashtra have crashed from over Rs 80 per kg to Rs 30-32 levels, driven purely by fears over poultry meat consumption posing the risk of contracting COVID-19 infection.
This, despite the Union Animal Husbandry Commissioner Praveen Malik clarifying, in a communication dated February 10, that poultry products have “not been found to be involved in transmission of 2019-nCov (novel coronavirus) to humans so far in any report globally”. He added that past outbreaks of coronavirus (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002-03 and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome in 2012-13) or corona-associated common colds “had no involvement of poultry or poultry products world over”.
That and subsequent circulars — including by Malik’s Maharashtra counterpart Sachindra Pratap Singh, who, on February 20, even filed a complaint with the cybercrime cell of Pune police against social media posts linking the COVID-19’s spread with chicken meat — have had little impact on the ground, though.
In January 2020, ex-farm broiler rates in Maharashtra, at Rs 75.56 per kg, averaged higher than the Rs 72.97 for the same month of last year. But in February 2020, these had plunged to Rs 43.39/kg, as against Rs 69.27 for February 2019. On Thursday, the average rate across the state was Rs 32 per kg.
The production cost of broilers is Rs 75-80 per kg, while prices in most parts of India were ruling at Rs 80-85 till mid-January. That was before reports of the coronavirus began gathering momentum. By February 2, the Maharashtra Poultry Farmers and Breeders Association’s average declared rate had dropped to Rs 69.6 per kg and further to Rs 42.2 on February 10.