Meat startups move to stem bird flu fear, give assurance on poultry quality

While organised meat startups claim 100% traceability of their products with full biosecurity, unorganised meat market has taken a beating, going down by 20-25%

With cases of bird flu outbreak confirmed in nine states so far, meat startups such as Licious, Nandu’s and FreshToHome are going all out to assure customers about the safety of their poultry products. 

While Bengaluru-based omnichannel meat brand Nandu’s is seeing some fluctuations in daily orders with demand for poultry products going down by 5-7 per cent, it is business-as-usual at Licious. FreshToHome cofounder & CEO Shan Kadavil said it is difficult to predict what’s going to happen in future but the company is seeing a traction in marinated products, including poultry. Licious has set up an FAQs page, which consumers can access on the app and the website and has given training to consumer care people to answer all queries regarding bird flu.

All the players have rolled out campaigns to reach out to customers about the safety, quality and hygiene of their offerings via social media, emails, and messages.

 

“Sensitivity towards all viral diseases has gone up because of Covid. Whether bird flu or no bird flu, we should always be concerned about the traceability of the food on our plate,” said Narendra Pasuparthy, Founder & CEO, Nandu’s, who claims to have grown over 60 million chicken on his farms in the past 16 yeras with not a single case of bird flu. “We are not worried about these diseases as we grow our chicken with utmost integrity fulfilling over 100,000 orders a month,” he added.

“Every Licious product undergoes more than 150 safety and quality checks at various stages of sourcing and processing. Our meats have always been and continue to be 100 per cent safe,” said a Licious spokesperson.

While organised meat startups claim 100 per cent traceability of their products with full biosecurity, the unorganised meat market has taken a beating after the bird flu cases came to light with sales going down by 20-25 per cent. Only 10 per cent of the total Rs 1.7 trillion poultry market in the country is currently organised which has seen more acceptability since the Covid-19 outbreak as they offer convenience of shopping online.

 

While Nandu’s has plans to expand to three more states of Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh this year, FreshToHome will be soon launching in West Bengal. FreshToHome, which last year in October raised a $121 million fund, is currently selling 1,000 tonnes of chicken and chicken products monthly.

Food delivery platforms Swiggy and Zomato have also sent advisories to customers related to the bird flu. “Keep calm and (chicken) curry on,” said Swiggy in the advisory. It said chicken and eggs cooked well at normal cooking temperatures (above 70 degree Celsius) are perfectly safe from bird flu as per WHO (World Health Organization). “So order in some Chicken 65, Chicken Biryani or Tandoori Chicken, without worrying about a thing,” said Swiggy advisory. It also requested the customers not to waste the food that is already at home.

Zomato in its advisory also told customers that cooked chicken and meat are safe to eat. “The bird flu virus is very sensitive to heat, so anything cooked beyond 70 degree Celsius is fully okay,” said the Zomato advisory.