Bird flu scare affects Leyte chicken traders

TACLOBAN CITY, Aug. 25  – News about bird flu outbreak in Luzon has dropped the sales of chicken meat in Leyte province, small traders here confirmed Friday.

The bird flu scare, according to Tacloban market vendor Joelito Montesclaros, 46, resulted in more than 50 percent decrease in sales in the past two weeks.

“Before the news about bird flu outbreak, I used to sell up to 30 kilograms of chicken meat daily, but now it has gone down to less than 15 kilograms,” Montesclaros said.

Despite the huge sales drop, the price of chicken in the wet market is pegged at P135 per kilogram, the vendor noted.

About 42 kilometers south of Tacloban, a chicken meat trader in Burauen, Leyte also expressed dismay over the bird flu issue.

“Though we are far from Pampanga, we are still affected because the people are scared to buy chicken meat. We can really feel the decrease in our sales,” said Aurora Lagario, whose sales dropped to 10 kilograms from 20 kilograms last month.

Department of Health regional epidemiology and surveillance unit Roderick Boyd Cerro said there’s no harm in consuming thoroughly cooked chicken meat.

“It is considered safe to eat the chicken meat. The one at risk are the people in contact with live chickens. People should not be afraid of eating it because the virus is found in the secretions of the chicken. It is found in its manure and sometimes in their eggs,” Cerro said.

Department of Agriculture (DA) regional technical director Andrew Rodolfo Orais clarified that the region never had bird flu outbreak.

“Aside from strict quarantine measures, the DA, national government agencies, and local government units are closely guarding entry points to prevent entry of bird flu in the region,” Orais said.

The farm department also asked local authories to check the measures in place for poultry operators to keep bird flu out of Eastern Visayas.

The DA also ordered the National Meat Inspection Service to make rounds of the outlets of poultry and poultry products and post signages certifying that all those sold in the market are safe to eat. (SQM/with reports from Madelene B. Perez, OJT/PNA)