TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Farm uses herbal feed to produce antibiotic-free eggs
Taking antibiotics at the right time and in the right dosage might cure illnesses, but overexposure could also be dangerous
Change Size
Taking antibiotics at the right time and in the right dosage might cure illnesses, but overexposure could also be dangerous.
Various studies have suggested that antibiotic overuse in humans leads to drug resistance, as viruses and bacteria develop the ability to defeat the drugs designated to kill them. This is dangerous because it puts people at risk of diseases that could previously be cured.
The World Health Organization has reported that infections such as pneumonia and salmonellosis are becoming harder to treat as the antibiotics designated to treat them have become less effective. Its latest study even found 500,000 antibiotic resistance cases across 22 countries. And this is not because people routinely directly consume the antibiotics, but because they unwittingly consume them through food that contains antibiotics, including chickens and eggs.
“The most commonly reported resistant bacteria were Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streotococcus pneumoniae and Salmonella spp,” said the WHO.
Trying to overcome the health concerns, a layer farmer from Lampung named Kusno Waluyo then started to self-manufacture nonantibiotic feed for thousands of his poultry, hoping that people consuming the birds’ eggs would not ingest antibiotics that the poultry have ingested. Antibiotic use is common in chicken farms since it can fatten the livestock.
“I used to provide my livestock with feed containing antibiotics until they became resistance to some infections. This could also occur in humans,” he said recently at his farm Sekuntum Herbal in Purbolinggo, East Lampung. Kusno was also eager to produce eggs that were safe to be consumed by people with allergies.
“In my neighborhood, there was a family allergic to eating eggs, and I wanted to address the issue. Thank God. I finally did it,” he said.
The farmer started to create the right formula for the antibiotic-free herbal feed in 2005. Three years later, he came up with one, under the supervision of Sri Harimurti, a professor in the School of Animal Science at Gadjah Mada University (UGM).
Kusno claimed he consequently saved a lot of money by having the formula, because it was very expensive to buy antibiotic-containing-feed that could actually work with his antibiotic-resistant livestock.
In addition to saving money, the herbal feed also had a positive impact on Kusno’s livestock as they now produced “premium eggs” with bold-orange yolks and a fresh smell. The yolks can even been easily separated from the egg whites by only pinching them out.
Eggs from other farms, meanwhile, had pale yellow yolks and a slightly stinky odor. Their yolks broke by the time Kusno tried to pinch them.
According to professor Sri, eggs from Sekuntum Herbal possessed protein profiles that did not exist in other eggs. Egg yolks actually contain fat, but the yolks from Kusno’s farm also contain proteins that have an immune substance. “Which is why we call them immunoglobulin yolks.”
It was the result of eating herbs, she further said. “What is produced by the chickens depends on what they eat.”
Moreover, she explained that proteins in the yolks also bound antioxidants that were good for our health. Eating the eggs regularly could also positively affect the body. “My son used to get skin ulcers after he was bitten by a mosquito, but it no longer happens now that he regularly eats the eggs,” Sri said.
Providing herbal feed to livestock also appeared to have another positive effect on the environment. When The Jakarta Post visited Kusno’s farm last month, the place was found not to have a pungent smell.
Sri explained that poultry consuming herbal feed could produce less ammonia, which has a characteristic pungent smell. Any smell produced by animals, including human beings, could be toned down by consuming herbs, she said.
For his achievements, Kusno was granted a Veterinary Control Number (NKV) certificate by the Agriculture Ministry on June 20. The certificate was proof that the eggs produced at his farm met national food standards.
With the NKV certificate, Kusno could now distribute the products to other regions in the country, even abroad.
