January 30, 2004

Philippines Authorities Show Its Safe To Eat Chicken

The Philippine government hosted a chicken lunch Friday for local World Health Organization officials in an attempt to show that it's safe to eat cooked poultry even as bird flu rages in Asia.

The Philippines has so far reported no cases of bird flu, which has spread through 10 countries in Asia and jumped to humans in Vietnam and Thailand, killing 10 people.

"In the Philippines, for the moment, there is no alarm at all. And as we are demonstrating here, it's extremely safe to eat chicken," WHO representative Jean Marc Olive said.

Olive and Philippine Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit ate chicken from the U.S. restaurant chain Kenny Rogers. It wasn't clear what country supplied the meat.

The Philippines credits its relative geographic isolation and the government's ban on poultry imports from infected countries for keeping the bird flu virus at bay.

Tens of millions of chickens and ducks have died in the 10 countries infected by the bird flu, either from the disease or in government-ordered slaughters. The virus has killed eight people in Vietnam and two in Thailand.

The WHO has said that killing of infected poultry is key to controlling the outbreak and preventing the virus from becoming established in humans, but said Thursday that unsafe culling practices across Asia were increasing the risk of people catching the disease.

Officials also have said there is no evidence that the virus can be contracted from well-cooked poultry.

Chicken farms in the Philippines last year produced 493 million kilograms of poultry meat. Another 20 million kilograms was imported from the U.S., Canada and Australia, the agriculture department said.