The Union Minister for Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Shri Giriraj Singh has allayed fears that the Coronavirus can be transmitted from animals to humans or vice versa by being in contact or by consuming eggs, chicken, meat and fish. Refuting rumours circulating in social media and other forum, Shri Giriraj Singh said there is no risk in eating non-vegetarian food.
Addressing the media here today, Shri Giriraj Singh andthe MoS (Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying) Shri Sanjeev Kumar Balyan said messages are spreading through the social, print and electronic media stating that consumption of eggs and chicken meat may spread corona virus infection to the human being. This kind of message has created panic amongst the poultry farmers, industries and consumers. Because of this misleading information, the sale of eggs and chicken meat has drastically suffered and millions of poor farmers dependent on poultry farming are under threat of losing their livelihood.
Shri Giriraj Singh said more than ten crore farmers are directly involved in poultry farming, animal husbandry and fisheries, contributing more than Rs. 1.2 lakh crore to the GDP. Besides, there are millions of maize and soya farmers, medicines and vaccine manufacturers also involved indirectly with the poultry sector. Hence, any kind panic related to poultry products consumption will destroy livelihood of the millions of people. The consumers will also be deprived of availability of good source of protein.