Calcutta, March 14 :    Calcutta, March 14:  Wah murgi, bah murgi and Taaza murgir mazaa. The ad-lines promoting chicken may make you salivate, but is the meat safe? After getting a detailed feed-back from its sources following a petition filed by a Calcuttan, the Environment Appellate Authority (EAA) has ordered a probe into allegations that poultry farms - particularly the bigger ones, which mass-breed chickens - fatten them by stuffing them with hormones. In an order dated March 12, EAA chairman Bhagabati Prasad Banerjee has directed the biochemistry department of Calcutta University to look into every aspect of poultry farms - including the levels of hormones in the chickens they produce and you eat, and the nature and quality of the poultry feed - and submit a detailed report. The EAA is the government's apex body which looks into all environmental issues. 'The biochemistry department of Calcutta University has been requested to find out the types of hormones fed and to ascertain whether they are carcinogenic,' the order states, adding that the step is necessary to effectively deal with 'problems of poultry-produced chickens in the interest of the people'. The university department was told to seek assistance from the West Bengal Pollution Control Board and other authorities. The directive follows a complaint lodged with the Board by a person living in the city's southern suburbs, alleging that a poultry farm near his house was polluting the area. Another complaint raised the issue of hormones being pumped into chickens for quicker growth. Banerjee said: 'We have information that some poultry farms feed hormones without any regard for the permissible level, so that the chicken can be fattened within a short period,' he said. 'But, in the absence of any official report, we have directed the CU to give a detailed report,' he added. The most dangerous aspect, according to the EAA chairman, was the possibility of some of the hormones being carcinogenic. 'We have consulted eminent scientists and food technologists, who felt that hormone feeding must be stopped,' Banerjee said. This has also been corroborated in Five Thousand Days to Save the Planet, an internationally-acclaimed book on environment and hygiene, published by Hamlyn and prepared by four eminent researchers - Edward Goldsmith, Nicholas Hildyard, Peter Burnyard and Patrick McCully. It had contributed in influencing the EAA's decision. The report, which, according to Banerjee, is a standard guide for environmentalists and food technologists, says: 'Several growth hormones have been banned in the US and other developed countries as carcinogens but there is strong evidence that the illicit use of banned hormones still thrives.' Representatives of two of the largest poultry chains in the city, however, denied any wrongdoing. Enzymes were fed to facilitate fast growth, but hormones was a strict no-no, they claimed.