Saransh Goila reveals dirty secrets of adulterated chicken, admits injecting birds with growth hormones is wrong: ‘As a consumer, you should…'

Indian Express

01-05-2025

Chef Saransh Goila, who rose to fame after winning the cooking reality show Food Food Maha Challenge, opened up about harmful practices in the food industry. Saransh admitted that chicken is injected with growth hormones to speed up production, and added that the same practices are conducted with vegetables as well. His statements come in the aftermath of a controversy around the use of alleged fake paneer in popular restaurants, including the Gauri Khan-owned Torii in Mumbai.
Appearing on the Aleena Dissects YouTube channel, Saransh was asked about adulterated chicken, and he said, 'The topic of chicken and meat farming is a large problem for us, overall. I don't want to deviate from the topic, but this happens even to vegetables. The problem is that we want everything faster, and we're putting too much pressure on the planet. There are too many people in this world, and we ruined farming practices ages ago, whether it's animals or plants. I wanted to be a biotechnologist, and I find all this very interesting.'
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He said that alternatives to meat should be entertained, as the planet can only take so much pressure. 'We add pressure on the supply chain, we add pressure on the farmers, we add pressure on animal husbandry. Because we want everything quicker, we end up injecting hormones to manipulate the growth of a chicken so that it can go on the market. In this day and age, if you want pesticide-free food, hormone-free food, then you have to spend two or three times more. Most of our ailments are a result of this. Air, water, food, nothing is clean,' he said.
Noting the importance of being an aware consumer, he continued, 'In the future, if we want to replace chicken with a lab-grown protein or any other alternative, we should all be open to the idea. But, in the process, we shouldn't repeat the same mistakes to grow that industry… The industry is becoming very strict, which means that there are government policies… It's already happening. You have to announce on your label if you are giving too many antibiotics to chickens, or too many hormones. As a consumer, you should read labels. No meat production unit can get away with it any more.'
He concluded, 'Antibiotics will always be needed for chicken production, because what happens when one chicken falls sick? All of them fall sick. Over-feeding is where the problem is. Using growth hormones is wrong.'
Some weeks ago, a food influencer posted a video alleging that Gauri Khan's restaurant uses fake paneer in their dishes. He attempted an iodine test on a dish, and claimed to have proven the paneer's impurity. The restaurant responded to the allegations, and said in a statement, 'The iodine test reflects the presence of starch, not the authenticity of the paneer. As the dish contains soy-based ingredients, this reaction is expected. We stand by the purity of our paneer and the integrity of our ingredients at Torii.'
Saransh Goila is the co-founder of the Goila Butter Chicken restaurant chain. He also appeared on MasterChef Australia, where he presented contestants with a pressure test to replicate his butter chicken recipe. He said that the show greatly impacted both his brand and his popularity.