IT

S UP TO YOU WOULD YOU LIKE TO EAT CHICKEN????

Poultry sector is one of the vibrant segments of agriculture industry in Pakista n. This sector generates employment (direct/indirect) and income for about 1.5 m illion people. Its contribution in agriculture growth is 4.81% and in Livestock growth 9.84%. Poultry meat contributes 19% of the total meat production in the c ountry. The current investment in Poultry Industry is about Rs.200.00 billion. P oultry sector has shown a robust growth at the rate of 8-10 percent annually whi ch reflects its inherent potential. This industry has several advantages as well as disadvantages over other classes of livestock when thinking in terms of production on large scale. The need is to think that are we going towards success or not? The fact is that commercially raised chickens are raised in crowded conditions. As a result, infections and bacteria spread more readily among the birds. Commer cially raised chickens are more likely to carry salmonella, which causes illness in humans. Symptoms of salmonella poisoning are diarrhea and vomiting, with hos pitalization or even death occurring in severe cases. Commercially raised chickens are often kept in pens without light or access to t he outdoors. Animal rights advocates call these practices cruel and unnecessary to the raising of healthy chickens. If you care about the way your chicken was t reated before slaughter, this is a distinct disadvantage of commercial chicken f arming. Commercially raised chickens are often fed antibiotics to prevent the spread of disease in the farms. Although the Food and Drug Administration requires a waiti ng period between administration of the drugs and slaughter to help reduce resid ue of the drugs in the chicken's system, it does not change the fact that the dr ugs were administered. The antibiotics used are the same used by humans. Farmers administer antibiotics to prevent disease rather than treat it, which can encou rage the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Most commercially raised chicken is injected with a salt or monosodium glutamate solution during processing. This increases the sodium content of the meat and c an cause health problems in sensitive individuals. Adding these solutions plumps the chicken and preserves its pink color. Commercially raised chickens are fed compounds that may be dangerous to human he alth, reports a study published in the journal "Environmental Health Perspective s" in April 2008. Some companies have discontinued use of these compounds, but c ommercially raised chickens may still be eating feed that contains parts of slau ghtered chickens, feces, plastics and an overabundance of grains. Poor quality f eed could mean poor quality meat. Tasra Anjum M. Phil Pathology UVAS Lahore tasraanjum@gmail.com +923334538838