January 23, 2008

India's chicken demand drops by 40 percent

Chicken demand in shops, restaurants and social gatherings have dropped sharply in Kolkata in the wake of bird flu outbreak, according to Statesman News Service.

The manager of a Park Street-based restaurant said that the chicken is slowly, but surely getting off the menu as many customers remain unconvinced even when they were told that chicken are safe to consume in Kolkata as they were brought in from Andhra Pradesh, a southern state in India.

Most businesses have their chicken supplies coming from Andhra Pradesh and even Maharashtra but that has not helped much. 

Local caters and food suppliers have struck off chicken from the menu in social gatherings, especially weddings, after last week's bird flu attack. Almost all wedding and reception ceremonies which had originally ordered chicken for the menu, cancelled it out once the presence of bird flu was confirmed.

The state's largest chicken and poultry products enterprise Arambagh Hatcheries, has also witnessed a drop in chicken sales despite their farms in Hooghly district are out of the bird flu's range. 

A senior official of Arambagh Hatcheries said strict hygiene measures had been imposed across all Arambagh poultries, and that they are spraying medicated water and bleaching powder to maintain hygiene.

People have been warned against consuming poultry products by doctors following the bird flu outbreak, causing chicken price to plunge to a new low. Currently, there are seven states infected with bird flu.