"avian flu" news and stories

In an effort to combat bird flu China announced this week that it wants to eventually phase out live poultry markets.

The country's State Council seeks to ban new markets, according to Chinadaily.The Council is also calling for existing poultry markets to be moved from highly populated areas. It also called upon local governments to ensure that sanitation standards were being followed.

While live poultry markets are popular throughout Asia, they are widely recognized as having the potential to spread avian flu. According to the official Xinhua news agency, China has had to eliminate 47,000 birds during 10 outbreaks over the course of this year. Since the end of 2003, 21 people have caught the disease and 14 have died.

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This week, Tyson announced that it would be donating 6 million pounds of poultry to America's Second Harvest, an organization that feeds the nation's poor and hungry. Earlier this year, a smaller company, Perdue Farms, donated a million pounds of poultry to charitable organizations. The USDA has purchased chicken off the market for $32.5 million and will be delivering it to food depositories.

Sounds charitable.

But I'm not so sure. The donations are motivated by an oversupply of chicken that has been created by a decline in the usual demand for chicken exports from the US into Asia. The decreased demand is based on people's fear of avian flu. Now obviously, there is no avian flu in this US supply of chicken, but it just seems strange to donate chicken that has been "rejected" because of avian flu to the nation's poor.

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Global health authorities say that there is currently no bird flu in the Western Hemisphere and the most likely way for it to enter the United States would be through birds smuggled in as pets or for cockfighting, or else from migratory birds, particularly ducks and geese. Nearly every chicken consumed in the US is raised here. Commercially bred chickens, including many "free range" birds, are raised inside giant airplane-hangar sized complexes and almost never see the light of day. Outdoor-raised chickens are usually kept away from wild birds with netting. The birds that are most at risk are unconfined birds and home raised birds, which may mingle with wild or migratory birds that carry the disease.

Almost all US chicken farmers have joined a program to test chicken flocks for the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus, which has already killed millions of birds in Asia and 76 humans. The producers who have joined the USDA's program - under which chickens from every flock will be tested approximately two weeks before slaughter - account for 90% of the US chicken production. Should an infection be detected, the flock will be destroyed and all flocks in a two mile radius will be held for further testing. State and national officials strongly recommend that even privately raised birds be brought in for testing on a regular basis.

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In the wake of the avian flu in Asia, people in places like Hong Kong and South Korea are beginning to pay more attention to health, including organic foods. The burgeoning economy is also allowing the average person to take an interest in high dollar items that may provide long term health benefits. However, organic foods still make up a tiny percentage of vegetables bought by consumers. Many people are still not informed about possible benefits from organic foods, and ironically, many believe that organic foods are less flavorful. But, once the consumers get more educated and prices come down a little, there will most likely be a huge organic market in Asia.