With awareness for organic and chemical-free food staples increasing, the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Central Marine Fisheries Research Institute (CMFRI) has released a safe layer poultry (egg laying chicken) feed as part of its ‘Self Farming for Safe Food’ programme on Tuesday. The feed, available in 10kg packets, has been made following a formulation of the ICAR-Central Avian Research Institute, Bareily, UP, and can be purchased from the sales counter of CMFRI, near High Court, Kochi. After food safety fears arose with vegetables available in the market, similar concerns have been raised about eggs. “The quality of eggs is a sensitive issue as we give at least one egg daily to our kids. Most of the home-reared poultry are fed food waste from the kitchen, whereas layer poultry require certain minerals, salts and vitamins in their feed for producing healthy eggs. Those who know this fact supplement the diet with exclusive layer feed available commercially. However, the purity of such feed again affects the quality of eggs,” said A Gopalakrishnan, director, CMFRI, who released the feed at a function. Shinoj Subramanian, senior scientist and head of KVK, and Smita Sivadasan, subject matter specialist (animal science) who developed the feed, were also present. KVK is planning to train self-help groups such as Kudumbashree to scale up production and market the feed across the district.
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