“The recent ban is not practical, as government needs to give another thought, as the Indian poultry sector cannot survive without this,” K Amarnath, head-feed business unit of Hatsun, India’s largest private milk producer told Jagdish Kumar in the side lines of the summit.
“There have been no bases to such the order, as the industry has been using antibiotics in feed for the last 10 to 15 years and nothing untoward has happened to the consumers’ health till now,” he adds.
Another participant said that the ban cannot be enforced as the sector consumes over 35 per cent of total food grains produced in the country annually.
As per an estimate, India’s food grain production was pegged at 250 million tonnes to 260 million tonnes in 2013-14.
“This is just a circular and the industry does not need to worry about this,” Dr ninesh Bhosale, chairman of the Compound Feed Manufacturers Association (CLFMA) said on the sidelines.
“We are trying to follow European Standard (EU), where the law is implemented, but this is not the case here,” he adds.
However, he said: “If you ban antibiotics in feed, industry people will start giving feed in water, which is going on in EU, whether this solves the problem only time will tell.”
Supporting the poultry and meat sector, the official said currently, farmers are only giving antibiotic when need and they also follow the withdrawal period, so the circular will not affect the industry, he stressed.
As we maintaining the cycle period, antibiotics are not cause for concern, he concludes.
Yogesh Agrawal, director, Tirupati Starch & Chemicals Limited, an Indore based feed raw materials producer said, “We have to wait to see what impact it has in the sector.”
