Reshma Ravishanker

The Institution of Veterinarians of Poultry Industry has expressed concerns over a National Education Policy 2020 (NEP) position paper on Health calling it unscientific and causing concerns to the poultry industry.

The position paper on health has been debated over statements indicating that consumption of eggs led to health complications while recommending consumption of other sources of proteins as alternatives.

The group of veterinarians have said that the claims made in the paper are unscientific and far from real. Prof G Devegowda, President, Institution of Veterinarians of Poultry Industry (IVPI) and Emeritus Professor and Head, department of Poultry Science, UAS, GKVK, has said that he was willing to meet the authors and issue a clarification in this regard.

The paper which is authored by a committee headed by Dr K John Vijay Sagar, Professor and Head, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, NIMHANS, Bengaluru believes that introducing eggs in the diet in schools would lead to disparity.

“Serving other recipes or foods to the same graders, such as egg versus grams, or egg versus banana, leads to a nutritional imbalance among children. Additionally, children develop complexes that result in emotional disturbances among friends; treating all children equally and with no to PanktiBedha is authentic Indian philosophy or Dharma.

“Hence, while planning mid-day meals, cholesterol-free, additives-free, such as eggs, flavoured milk, biscuits, should be forbidden to prevent obesity and hormonal imbalance caused by excess calorie and fat. Given the small body frame of Indians, any extra energy provided through cholesterol by regular consumption of egg and meat leads to lifestyle disorders. Lifestyle disorders like diabetes, early menarche, primary infertility in India is escalating, and studies conducted across the countries suggest that animal-based foods interfere with hormonal functions in humans. The Gene-diet interactions indicate what is best for Indian ethnicity, and the natural choice of the race needs to be considered,” the paper reads.

Responding to these, Prof Devegowda said, “The write up is highly unscientific and misleading the consumers with respect to consumption of chicken and eggs. It is totally unfounded to attribute consumption of chicken and eggs to health issues such as early puberty among girls/male impotence. Poultry farmers associations have announced a reward of Rs. 20 lakhs if anyone shows the usage of hormones in any farm in India.”

Also read: Karnataka: NEP position papers are recommendations only, says minister