Chicken / eggs - are you worried?

whiskeyman

Just wondering how many people here are turned off poultry / eggs etc... due to the coverage bird flu is getting.
It's early stages and there seems to be much denial that it can be passed through food... but I feel many consumers will still be wary, especially after BSE.
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=2149372005

It will be interesting to see how sales are affected at the moment.

Personally, I wont stop eating chicken or eggs until (if) it is confirmed 100%.

lazygit

not a big fan of chicken.. but i have eggs every morning for breakfast
and i never stopped eating beef during the BSE scares... so i suppose i could be just mad...

The Sweeper

The way it would affect me is in how it affects free range hens. One of the control methods around bird flu is to take outdoor birds indoors so they do not have contact with wild carriers of the disease. I don't know how that would affect free range hens - would they have to be kept in their roosting space 24x7?

On that point, it probably wouldn't affect battery poultry - those poor creatures never see the light of day so they wouldn't get the chance to catch it...

whiskeyman

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

I don't know how that would affect free range hens - would they have to be kept in their roosting space 24x7?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/birdflu/story/0,14207,1595238,00.html

Free range poultry farmers in Britain are being warned to make emergency preparations to house millions of runaround birds indoors as UK authorities remain on high alert to the spread of avian flu.

If the UK get a proper confirmation of the disease (outside quarantine), I'm sure it'll be thrown into effect.

The Sweeper

Hmmm. I shall watch the price of a chicken climb alarmingy no doubt.

bonkey

Could just as easily plummet, depending on market demand.

I know that over here, virtually all supermarkets are currently offering discounts on poultry.

jc

whiskeyman

yup - I'd except market price to plummet.
Price wouldnt get high as supply wouldnt get scarce as such. It'd just be a case of a total cull or ban should the disease appear.
Consumer confidence will probably crash if cases keep being reported... and it'll be a disaster for the industry if a human gets it.

actually, market price would of couse plummet for affected countries.
I'd expect non affected countries prices to rise as they'd still be spending more to prevent cases.

Looks like the panic has already affected the market in Belgium:

chinaview.cn wrote:

Belgium's poultry sales plummet over bird flu fears

www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-25 03:22:08


BRUSSELS, Oct. 25 (Xinhuanet) -- Belgian poultry sales have already been hard hit by "premature panic" of a bird flu outbreak despite the fact the virus has not yet been detected in Belgium.

Sales of chicken products have slumped by 30 to 50 percent across the nation and prices have plummeted in the past two weeks, local press reported on Tuesday.

Farmers Union spokesman Wouter Wytynck said "the premature panic reaction from the consumer has pushed the price for chicken under production prices".

This is considered a disaster for the Belgian poultry industry, which was previously hit by a dioxin scare in 1999 and bird flu concerns in 2003.

Farmers now receive 63 cents for a kilogram of chicken compared with 80 cents two weeks ago.

"And prices will fall further. Even if bird flu does not break through, the sector will suffer heavy losses," Wytynck said.

"However, there is absolutely no reason to panic. Why is not clearly being said that Belgian poultry is okay?" he added. Enditem

Alun

AFAIK influenza (of all sorts) is an airborne virus, you get it through people (or chickens, presumably) coughing and sneezing in your vicinity. I can't see it being transferred by eating cooked meat somehow, although that won't stop most people thinking it can. I kept eating beef all through the BSE "crisis", and as long as it's still available for a realistic price, I'll continue eating chicken and eggs during this largely media created "crisis" too.

whiskeyman

http://www.foodproductiondaily.com/news/ng.asp?n=63485-avian-flu-egg

Even before the first H5 avian influenza case was found there, the Greek daily Express said consumption of poultry meat had decreased by 40 per cent over the week.

Prices for poultry have dropped by up to 40 per cent, according to the Italian farmers' union.

Really is a crisis already by the looks of things.
Just bring eggs into the equation and products like mayo and desserts will be affected.

simu

I don't know if I was worried about chickens or eggs first.

Lollers!

But seriously now people, I'm not bothered about either and have been eating them without the furrow of worry upon my brow.

The Real B-man

sure go to mac donalds its you want dog i mean chicken

Blub2k4

I hope this means that the price will drop on the organic chickens I buy as well. Could do with a price drop from 16 euro.

grimloch

Nah doesn't bother me too much, I had a lovely roast chicken the other night for din-dins and I wouldn't hesitate to have another.

I was never put off beef during all the BSE broughadh either.