051111 French Bird Flu Drill Sparks Poultry Sales Fears

Kergloff, France - French officials sealed off a farm to test their ability to handle a bird flu outbreak but local farmers feared the drill would deter consumers from buying poultry ahead of the key holiday period.

The Ministry of Agriculture sought to reassure shoppers that meat bought in their local butchers and markets was safe. Concerns over the virus have caused French poultry consumption to fall 20 percent even though there is no evidence it can be passed on through food.

The exercise comes as fears grow around the globe about the human and economic toll of an avian flu pandemic and amid warnings that many nations are not doing enough to prepare.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has infected 122 people and killed 62 in Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. It has decimated poultry flocks across large areas of Asia and has been detected in birds in eastern Europe over the past month.

France chose Brittany for its exercise, a region dense with poultry farms where the industry employs around 20,000 people. Breton farmers provide some 40 percent of the nation's poultry meat and any detection of bird flu could have severe harmful economic consequences for the area.

Local officials dressed in protective gear moved in to take blood samples from chickens, taped off the area and set up road blocks during the drill, centered on a chicken farm on the outskirts of Kergloff, a village of 800 inhabitants.

Breeders are worried that high-profile media coverage of the test, planned some time ago, could harm the industry.

"It's really unfair," said Jean-Noel Sidaner, the president of an association representing poultry producers in the region. "The problem is in Thailand. It isn't here."

CHRISTMAS DISHES

Sidaner is worried that French people will be put off ordering traditional Christmas and New Year's holiday dishes of foie gras (duck liver pate) and turkey. Holiday sales are among the most important for poultry producers.

Some locals have already stopped eating chicken.

"The problem is people think it's real. My mother is 80 and now she won't eat chicken or meat. It's just potatoes and soup for her," said Pierre Cras, a retired painter and decorator.

The government tried to reassure consumers that meat products are safe to eat.

"What we can tell the consumer today is that what he buys from his butcher or in the market, whether its poultry or meat, it's healthy," said Monique Eloit, head of the food department at the Ministry of Agriculture.

Local farmers say controls are tight in France and they say they are confident bird flu will never arrive in Brittany.

France has listed 26 departments at particular risk of contact with migratory birds, which could spread the virus, and banned poultry breeders in the areas from keeping birds outside.

"This has nothing to do with what happened in Asia, there's no danger. I can guarantee you as a breeder that there is no risk. I'm not worried at all," said Didier Goubil from a local farmers' organization.

Officials practiced setting up footbaths for disinfecting boots and provided an area filled with straw for disinfecting any vehicles that may have visited the site.

The exercise will continue on Friday and the focus will move to responding to handling the outbreak but will not deal with any potential infection among humans.

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