No health risk in broiler chicken consumption: Agriculture Minister

Agriculture minister Md. Abdur Razzaque on Thursday said there is no public health risk in consuming broiler chicken since a study found nominal presence of antibiotics in chicken which is much lower than the tolerable level, reports news agency BSS.

“Broiler chicken is a safe and there is no public health risk in consuming the chicken,” he said while disclosing findings of a research at the Secretariat in Dhaka.

Funded by the agriculture ministry, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council (BARC) conducted the study on 315 samples collected from 1,200 broiler chickens and 30 broiler chicken feeds from across the country to know about the presence of 10 antibiotics and three heavy metals, said a press release.

Razzaque said that the study found the nominal presence of two antibiotics - oxytetracycline and doxycycline - and three heavy metals - arsenic, chromium and lead - in the broiler chicken, which is much below the maximum tolerable level.

The level of antibiotics and lead in bones, liver and kidney as well as in broiler feed was also found lower than the highest tolerable level, he added.

About the use of tannery waste as broiler chicken feed, the agriculture minister said, “It is completely baseless. Because, currently the demand of poultry or chicken feed in the country is 9.5 million tonnes and cattle feed 14.5 million tonnes while the total tannery waste is only 85,000 tonnes”.

Razzaque put emphasise on making the broiler chicken popular among the people to meet the protein demand as well as build a healthy, capable and meritorious nation.

Fisheries and livestock minister SM Rezaul Karim, agriculture secretary Wahida Akter, fisheries and livestock ministry secretary Nahid Rashid, BARC executive chairman Shaikh Mohammad Bokhtiar, principal information officer Md. Shahinoor Miah and members of the research team were present on the occasion, among others.