Major food companies still reject locally produced egg powder because Nigerian poultry farmers commonly use antibiotics to treat birds, unlike producers in Europe who rely more on probiotics, Lagos poultry farmers have said.

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In a phone interview with The PUNCH , the Chairman of the Poultry Association of Nigeria, Lagos State Chapter, Mojeed Iyiola, said the industry must change its production practices and dedicate farms to producing eggs from birds that had not received antibiotics before Nigeria could compete effectively with imported egg powder.

He said the antibiotic residue concerns had made major companies, such as Cadbury, prefer imported egg powder, despite the availability of locally produced eggs.

“The reason is that in Nigeria, we use some of the major antibiotics to treat some of our birds, but in Europe, they don’t use antibiotics. They have probiotics they are using. The antibiotic elements shouldn’t be in the egg powder. It has a detrimental effect on human consumption,” Iyiola said.

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He noted that farmers must adopt specialised production systems for birds whose eggs would go into egg powder, adding that such birds should not receive antibiotics even when they fall sick.

“Any egg that we are going to be using for the egg powder, it has to be specially produced. Such birds that are producing that kind of egg, shouldn’t be treated with antibiotics, no matter the case of their sickness,” he said.

Iyiola said the government must support farmers with improved production practices and help establish a reliable supply of eggs suitable for processing.

He said, “By the time we start up with the egg powder factory, we need to have special farmers that are producing that kind of egg for us, in the production of egg powder.”

The farmers also called on the Lagos State Government to fast-track the take-off of the proposed egg powder factory in Igbodo, Epe, saying the facility could provide a solution to the huge quantities of eggs that farmers currently lose because of weak demand.

“The factory is yet to begin functioning. We acknowledge that Lagos State has tried their best, but the best will not be materialised until the factory starts operation. So instead of losing eggs like this, we convert it to egg powder, and that is more storable,” Iyiola said.

📰 Source: Punch Nigeria