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All safety steps are being taken
By Renu Warnasuriya
Is it safe to eat chicken?, This is the question on people's minds as avian flu spreads like wild fire across Asia and we asked leading supermarkets, fast food outlets and chicken producers in Sri Lanka, for an answer.

" We will never compromise on our standards and the safety of our customers. KFC and Cargills Quality Foods use chicken that is of the highest quality and is perfectly safe," says Executive Director, Cargills, Sidath Kodikara. Cargills gets its chicken from reputed local companies, Prima, Bairaha and Chrysbro, who conform to international standards. "We do not use any imported chicken," Mr. Kodikara said, assuring that Cargills is working closely with their suppliers to ensure safety.

Adds McDonalds' Marketing Manager F. Shakoor, "All our chicken is locally produced and pre-cooked", giving a 100% guarantee that the chicken is safe. "The guarantee is not coming just from us but the health authorities themselves." Another leading fast food outlet which declined to be identified stated that they too get their chicken from reputed local dealers, who are able to assure perfect safety.

What of the supermarkets? Quality Assurance Manager Saman Jayaratne of one of Sri Lanka's largest processed meat factories, Keells, says they are very conscious of the safety of their customers. "Keells follows the 'farm to table concept' and though we do not have any farms, we work closely with the local farms including Prima, Bairaha, Nelna and Maxie's that supply the meat providing them with technical know-how and so on.” In light of the disease, they have taken steps to educate their farmers. The chicken meat they import is from Australia, which is so far safe from the virus. " We can assure 100% that our chicken is free of avian flu," says Mr. Jayaratne.

" We have had several meetings with the authorities and taken various preventive measures," says Yakooth Naleem, Managing Director of Bairaha Farms. Their meat is produced in Sri Lanka, and only parent birds (breeding stock) are imported from Holland. The farms are on "maximum bio security" and officials are careful about sanitary conditions.

Maxie's, another large chicken producer is carrying out day-to-day checks by field officers and vets. Anything the least bit suspicious is subjected to a clinical test, says their consultant on farms, Lalith Pathirana.. They too are controlling the problem on a biological basis and are careful not to expose the birds to too much air during transport.

K. Siow in charge of nutrition and technical aspects at Prima, explains that they only import grandparent birds, and that too from Scotland. "Our products are safe. There's nothing to worry," he says.

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