“No one enters this area without personal protective equipment (PPE),” says veterinarian P Gunanidhi, as he leads a tour at a farm in Mahabubnagar, 150 km from Hyderabad. The 1,022 sq m site, contracted by poultry supplier Sneha Farms, has 9,000 broiler chicken. In one shed, 25-day-old birds roam freely on soft deep litter made of wood shavings, straw and sawdust. Supervisors regularly inspect the site to make sure it is clean, cool and ventilated, and that the birds are not stressed.
These measures are crucial to keep the birds healthy and prevent the spread of diseases, so that Sneha Farms does not have to administer antibiotics on its poultry and can thereby remain a major supplier for Jubilant FoodWorks Limited (JFL), which runs 2,000 outlets of Domino’s Pizza, Popeyes, Dunkin’ Donuts and Hong’s Kitchen across 407 cities in India.
In 2023, JFL officially implemented its “No Antibiotics Ever” (NAE) policy. But the company has been encouraging poultry suppliers to refrain from antibiotic use since 2017, acknowledging the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
AMR in poultry increases with overuse or misuse of antibiotics, typically administered to chicken to prevent diseases or as growth promoters. A 2024 report by the UN Food and Agricultural Organization and the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), citing analysis by the Indian Network for Fishery and Animal Antimicrobial Resistance for 2019-22, says the poultry sector shows higher antibiotic resistance among all food- producing animals tested. The sector may see more frequent disease outbreaks, higher mortality rates, and risks passing infection to humans through the food chain.
In 2017, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), a Delhi-based think tank, found that several multinational fast-food chains that commit to serving chicken raised without antibiotics in the US, Canada and parts of Europe have not made such commitments for India. Later that year, JFL introduced a framework to phase out antibiotics from its supply chain. As of 2024, it is the only company with an India-specific policy, as per CSE.
The basic premise of JFL's policy is to only work with farms that rear poultry without antibiotics. “Convincing farmers to completely stop using antibiotics was challenging. Initially, we persuaded supply partners, including slaughterhouses and feed mills, who then influenced farmers,” says Avinash Kant Kumar, president, value chain engineering, Hong’s Kitchen, who is also responsible for international business and corporate social responsibility at JFL. The company currently works with four suppliers through which it obtains about 2,500 tonnes of meat: Perfect Poultry Products in Punjab, Sneha Farms in Telangana, Shanthi Feeds Pvt Ltd in Tamil Nadu, and Kwality Animal Feeds in Maharashtra. These suppliers already had standards to ensure health and quality of their birds, which JFL helped enhance through measures to keep farms clean, reduce contamination and promote antibiotic alternatives.
To understand how JFL’s measures work, CSE researchers visited sites of Sneha Farms and Shanthi Feeds in February and March 2024.
Sneha Farms provides chicken, feed, vaccinations and veterinary support to a network of 5,000 contract farms. After each production cycle (35 days), farmers are paid a minimum of R6 per kg of bird weight, with additional incentives for farm management and low feed-conversion ratio (FCR). This ratio measures conversion of feed into poultry weight, with a lower number indicating greater efficiency.
Sneha Farms also runs five environmentally controlled (EC) farms with advanced infrastructure like automated temperature and humidity regulators. It believes that the closed system ensures fewer diseases or pathogens are introduced; however, these farms seem more intensive and densely stocked compared to contract farms. One EC farm CSE visited in Kanchiraopalle village, Mahabubnagar, has 20 sheds, each 1,486 sq m in size and housing 25,000 poultry birds.
So, to keep birds healthy, Sneha Farms focuses on vaccination and biosecurity. “Vaccination is our top priority, with routine doses administered through water against poultry infections like Newcastle disease, infectious bursal disease, and infectious bronchitis. At hatcheries, some vaccines are sprayed,” says veterinarian Gunanidhi, who works with JFL to oversee operations at Sneha Farms.
To ensure biosecurity, the farms are located far from cities and span large areas within a 20-30 km radius, and are fenced to keep away stray animals and wild predators. Slaughterhouses are centrally located to minimise travel distances and thus keep birds stress-free during transportation. Visitors must wear PPE kits and declare that they are infection- or disease-free before entering the farms.
Each flock moves and lives on a bed of soft deep litter, which can control odour and absorb moisture, reducing microbial contamination. To minimise the risk of bacterial contamination, birds are kept on a vegetarian diet, made of maize, soybean, amino acids, vitamin premix, salts and electrolytes. Water is supplied through nipple-based watering systems, after it is treated with chlorine dioxide and acidifiers to ensure optimal pH.
A veterinarian from Sneha Farms advises the farm staff on administration of herbal alternatives to birds. “Probiotics, prebiotics, essential oils and acidifiers, if administered using quality raw materials, can ensure 70-80 per cent wellness of the birds without requiring antibiotics,” says Gunanidhi.
These measures do come with some caveats. “Without antibiotics, our chick mortality rate is about 1 per cent higher,” says Gunanidhi, adding that dead birds are disposed in pits about 200 m from farms.
Devendra Yadav, vice president of JFL, who also leads the food safety division, adds, “Without growth promoters, we had to provide 0.24 per cent more feed which raised FCR. This had cost implications.” Other challenges included weak birds becoming more prevalent in flocks and limited availability of EC farms. Consistent focus on health measures gradually got FCR and mortality rates under control. “We managed to keep costs unchanged for consumers,” Yadav adds.
Vaccination, biosecurity and alternatives are also a focus for Shanthi Feeds. It operates more than 1,500 contract farms of broiler birds along with a hatchery, parent farm, feed mill and slaughterhouse. One contract farm hosts about 10,000 birds, sold at Rs 6.5-13.5 per kg depending on bird weight.
All the contract farms have an open layout, allowing for natural wind ventilation and light, says Senthilnathan Palanisamy, deputy general manager, quality and food safety, JFL. Farms use sprinklers and foggers to improve air circulation and control dust levels.
To ensure implementation of its measures, JFL has a strict monitoring and surveillance framework. Each quarter, farms, slaughterhouses and processing plants in its supply chain undergo an audit. In 2023-24, JFL audited 1,533 farms and 11 slaughterhouses.
Using MS Dynamics, a digital platform, veterinarians assess four areas: biosecurity, farm management, bird welfare, and farmer training. Each area has critical, major and minor sub-parameters based on importance and urgency of compliance. For example, “Fencing and gate, dead bird disposal, medical waste disposal” is a major sub-parameter under farm biosecurity, while compliance with the NAE policy is a critical component under farm management. Sites not complying with the policy fail the audit and see supplies immediately suspended. But for other sub parameters, gaps or non-compliance may mean greater scrutiny, resolution of problems or further review.
Separately, JFL conducts quarterly tests for antibiotic residues through a third-party laboratory. In 2023-24, JFL tested 75 samples of poultry feed, raw meat, offal (liver or kidney) and processed meat products. All samples showed residues lower than the tolerance limit set by Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). But JFL only tests one sample of each kind (feed, raw meat, offal and processed product) from each supplier each quarter. This may not be not sufficient, given the scale of its operations.
JFL also ensures traceability from the hatchery, farms and feed mills to transportation and processing plants. Each farm must furnish a traceability certificate with three components—procurement of antibiotic-free chicken meat from farms, health of birds and microbiological analysis to detect pathogens. JFL also trains supplying farms on antibiotic resistance, vaccinations, biosecurity and animal welfare. Over the past year, it conducted 12 training sessions for each vendor.
JFL has so far not monitored the decrease in use or consumption of antibiotics in farms after implementation of its NAE policy. However, the efforts of the company and its suppliers show that it is possible for India to reduce use of antibiotics in animals, especially to meet the commitments under the Muscat Ministerial Manifesto on AMR. India and 46 other countries signed this Manifesto in 2022, pledging to reduce antimicrobials in agrifood systems by the end of this decade.
More changes are emerging. While only JFL has an antibiotic use policy, retailers like MeatRight, Licious, Meatigo, Its-FarmFresh, TenderCuts and Freshtohome Foods claim to sell antibiotic-free or antibiotic-residue-free products.
But some aspects are yet to be addressed. For instance, India still allows use of antibiotics as growth promoters and to prevent diseases. Here, scientific institutions can play a greater role. ICAR’s Directorate of Poultry Research (ICAR-DPR) and Central Avian Research Institute (ICAR-CARI) have developed breeds with better immunocompetence and disease resilience. But these are largely used by backyard farmers and not yet commercial.
ICAR-CARI has also pioneered Giri Gram Takniki Park, a backyard farming method based on free-range rearing and organic feed, and developed feed additives to promote growth. Private players have also developed herbal products for poultry. These solutions require focus.
Jubilant FoodWorks Limited's farm-level initiatives for disease control
Maintain a healthy farm environment
Improving farm microclimate with fans, foggers, and sprinklers to alleviate dust
Maintaining, monitoring temperature and humidity levels at all farms
Mandatory analysis of water samples before each placement
Regular swab tests to verify effectiveness of shed disinfection
Ensure feed quality
Thorough cleaning of feed production lines before new batches to prevent cross-contamination
Raised platforms for feed storage
Restricted use of ionophore in feed; use of chemical alternatives to manage coccidiosis
Prevent entry of pathogens
Foot baths, vehicle sprays/tyre dips, measures to control entry from wild and migratory birds
Equip all farms with rodent traps or baits
Maintain vehicle and visitor logs
Ensure farms are within 100 km of processing plants for efficient bird transportation
Source: Jubilant FoodWorks Limited
This was first published in the 1-15 September, 2024 Print edition of Down To Earth