Kollam: For the first time in India, live broiler chicken will bear QR code tags guaranteeing that the meat is safe to consume.
When the QR code on the legs of a live chicken is scanned using a mobile app, it will give information on the type of food fed, medicines given, and even the signature of the farmer who reared the chicken. The project, branded as ‘Venad Signature Chicken’, is by the Venad poultry farmers producers limited, supported by NABARD and Kerala Agriculture University.
“We aim to provide safe chicken to consumers and ensure farmers a base value apart from the farm rate, complying with the market price of chicken. The QR tag will bear a unique number for the farmer who reared the chicken, his name and address, details of the feed used and the chicks used for rearing. The tag will also contain information on whether antibiotics, steroids, or hormones were used, the age of chicken at the time of branding, and the date of branding,” Dr K. Chandraprasad, retd. district animal husbandry officer and the chairman of ‘Venad’ told this newspaper.
Venad Poultry Farmers Producers Company Limited has been registered under Companies Act for farmers under the Central government.
The first franchise outlet of Venad signature chicken will open in Kottiyam on Friday. The outlet is equipped with scientific killing ponds and automated dicer facility which will cut chicken into pieces to the desired size. The dicer installed in Kottiyam costs '1,60,000 and is aided by subsidies of NABARD and Anert. The software and mobile app has been developed by a firm ‘nHobes’ from Chavakkad in Thrissur.
The chicken reared by farmers will be fed only with vegetarian feed provided by the farmers company. The usage of antibiotics will not be promoted by the company unless it is really needed and such chicken will be taken for sale only after the withdrawal period of the anti-biotics. The chicken grown from 35 to 38 days having weight below 2kg with good meat yield and without fat deposits tagged with the QR code will be made available in the franchise outlets.
