October 26, 2005

Italian farmers try to reassure public over poultry safety
 

Farmers in north-eastern Italy were holding demonstrations Tuesday to reassure a public worried by bird flu that Italian poultry is safe and that eating cooked chicken posed no risk.

The demonstrations were taking place in cities in the north-eastern Veneto region, including Verona and Padua, where most Italian farmers are based.

They were supported by farmers' association Coldiretti, which said poultry consumption had fallen by 40 percent in September.

Veterinary officials said there was no reason to avoid cooked chicken because bird flu is killed in seconds when the meat is cooked.

There have been no reported cases of bird flu in Italy. But officials across the EU are bracing themselves for an outbreak of the H5N1 strain in birds, after it was discovered in Russia, Turkey and Romania.

It has decimated poultry stocks in Asia in the past two years, and killed about 60 people in Asia, mostly poultry farmers directly infected by birds. Though H5N1 is difficult for humans to contract, experts fear it could mutate into a form that can easily pass between humans and spark a pandemic.