051012 Chicken Trouble as Bird Flu Scares Europe

London, England - Dawn is approaching and London's Smithfield meat market is closing up after a hectic night, but Keith Edwards is faced with a mountain of unsold chicken meat.

Sales of his fresh British poultry to caterers, restaurants and butchers, he says, are down about 30 percent since bird flu struck Europe a week ago. And prices are lower still.

"The packer is being crucified," said Edwards, director of H. Smith's, one of Smithfield's biggest poultry suppliers.

"If the government doesn't come up with a statement saying our poultry is not affected whatsoever, everyone will be losing our jobs."

Bird flu should not keep chicken off the menu. Health experts say people cannot contract the disease from eating properly cooked poultry -- and all chicken should be properly cooked anyway to prevent other diseases like salmonella.

But news that the disease was found in birds in southeastern Europe has hurt the poultry business across the continent, even as authorities insist it is as safe to eat as ever.

And producers say without a more effective public relations campaign, the situation could rapidly worsen. People misinformed

In Romania, the first mainland European country where the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus was detected, consumption of poultry has fallen dramatically, farmers say.

"We don't have final figures but we estimate that our sales of poultry fell by between 50 and 60 percent since this started," Ilie Van, president of the Romanian Association of Poultry Producers, said.

But even in countries that have yet to see a sick bird, the knock-on effects are being felt. A farm union in Italy has reported demand falling by up to 30 percent. The French government says sales and prices have dipped there.

"People are very misinformed, they are scared and very wary," said Alberto Gomez, assistant at a chicken and egg stall at a Madrid market said.

"Today we are noticing it a lot," he said, as an elderly woman joked about the virus while she bought her chicken.

Emilia Condensa, a woman in her 60s shopping at Joaquim Verissimo's butcher shop on a cobbled sidestreet in Lisbon, said she was buying beef and pork just in case.

"I'm kind of scared, and I've got a little grandson, so I'm really frightened about buying chicken."

Mladen Lebar, the head of the poultry producers' association in Croatia, blamed the hype.

"The media have played a significant role by blowing the whole thing out of proportion and having many reports that do not correspond with expert knowledge on the issue," he said, adding that sales in Croatia had dropped, but only slightly. Still eating

Restaurateurs say they have noticed little change in their customers' eating habits.

At The Vaults restaurant in Dublin's financial district it was business as usual for its popular spicy chicken wings.

"We haven't noticed any drop-off in sales of our chicken dishes at all -- people are still eating spicy wings as though there was no tomorrow," one waitress said.

Antonio Lopes, manager of Chartier, a Paris brasserie, said he is serving up as much roast chicken and chips as ever.

"We buy between 30 to 40 chickens a day and so far people haven't changed their orders," he said.

Even in countries where people are still eating nearly as much chicken as before, producers can be hurt by falling prices as consumption tumbles elsewhere on the continent.

Britain's biggest retailer Tesco says it has not noticed any change in chicken sales. Its main competitor, J. Sainsbury, says it noticed a slight dip at the beginning of the week but sales quickly returned to normal.

Prices have still fallen markedly as imports flood the market from other parts of Europe, making it far tougher for those who sell local poultry, said Edwards at Smithfield.

Imports of Italian chicken had helped force the wholesale price down to between 55 and 88 pence a kilo from 110 pence a fortnight ago. He sells British chicken only, and estimates he sold just 275 pallets this week, instead of his usual 300-400.

"It is a very serious situation indeed."

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