August 27, 2007

 

Restaurants in Bali taking chicken off the menu after bird flu deaths

 

 

Hotels and restaurants in Bali have dropped chicken from their menus after two people were confirmed to have died of bird flu on the island in as many weeks.

 

Some hotels and restaurants have reduced the amount of chicken in their menus, the head of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Association (PHRI) Cok Oka Ardhana Sukawati noted. 

 

Some have taken chicken off its menu while others reduced the amount of chicken in their menus by nearly two-thirds, he said.

 

The step was taken in the wake of Wednesday's confirmation of the death of a 29-year-old woman on the island.

 

The two deaths brought the nation's bird flu toll to 84 deaths out of 105 confirmed human cases, the highest of any country in the world.

 

Even the Westin Resort Hotel in the exclusive enclave of Nusa Dua, said the hotel took chicken off the menu in response to the outbreak.

 

Despite the move, poultry farmers have yet to experience a decline in demand.

 

The head of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Farmers Union, Nyoman Suparta, said the demand for chicken was still within the average range of 100,000 animals per day.

 

This was despite public announcements by the World Health Organization (WHO) that bird flu is not transmissible through cooked food.

 

The deaths and the disease which is seemingly spreading unchecked through birds, has raised concerns about tourism on the resort island, which has only just started to recover from terrorist bombings.

 

Hotels have said they were willing to partially compensate chicken owners if they were to put down their poultry, Bali Hotels Association executive director Djinaldi Gosana said.

 

The loss of money from falling tourism revenue would be much greater than losses from paying compensation to bird owners, he said.