Consumers see chicken differently in light of bird flu

Supermarkets appear to be bearing the brunt of fears about chicken resulting from the bird flu outbreak, but the effect of the epidemic has been limited so far.

"Bird flu did cause me to be cautious over the safety of eating chicken and I have decreased the amount of chicken we eat after news of the disease came out," said Yeh Mei-chu (葉美珠), a 35-year-old housewife who usually buys chicken from traditional markets.

Another consumer agreed, saying that she had stopped buying chicken as soon as the disease appeared earlier this month.

"And our suspension will continue until the epidemic vanishes in the future," added Wang Chi-hung (王志弘), a 51-year-old housewife who was shopping in a branch of Wellcome supermarket on Taipei's Zhongxiao East Road.

The outbreak was first identified in South Korea last month and has now appeared in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand and Pakistan.

Taiwan detected a weaker strain of the bird flu virus, H5N2, earlier this month and has since culled more than 35,000 chickens.

Worries over the outbreak has been reflected in a decline in the sale of chicken in supermarkets.

"We saw a decrease of up to 20 percent in sales of chicken after the outbreak of the disease in mid-January," said Howard Tsai (蔡裕人), a spokesman for Wellcome Supermarket, the nation's largest supermarket chain with 155 outlets.

"Sales have recovered a little thanks the demand for poultry to worship gods and ancestors [during the Lunar New Year]," Tsai added. "Whether or not and how long the impact will last is yet to be determined, and will depend on how the virus evolves in the future."

While large retailers have suffered, vendors in traditional marketplaces said their sales have risen.

"We have run a business in traditional marketplaces for over 40 years and have established a good reputation," said Chen Tung-fu (陳東富), a chicken vendor at the Jianguo Marketplace (建國市場) in Taipei's Zhongshan district.

"Therefore, customers now buy chicken from us instead of at roadside vendors, who sell chickens from questionable sources at lower prices," Chen added. "And we saw roughly a 10 percent increase in sales."

Sales of cooked chicken do not seem to have suffered either.

"I will continue to consume fried chicken in fast-food chain restaurants with a good reputation like KFC, but have stopped eating cooked chicken from roadside vendors," said Nini Chen (陳心儀), a 28 year-old office worker.

KFC, the nation's largest fried chicken restaurant with more than 130 outlets, said the chicken they use complies with national hygiene standards. The company has not seen any negative effects on sales from the disease.

However, one industry official is worried about the market price of chicken declining further if the epidemic worsens.

"The price of native broiler chicken dropped to NT$19.8 per catty [600g] today from NT$23 per catty before the New Year," said an official at National Animal Industry Foundation (中央畜產會) who asked to remain anonymous.

"Both the disease and oversupply during the New Year period can be blamed for the price drop, and we do worry about the potential for a domestic outbreak of the more severe H5N1 virus, which would further depress chicken prices," the office said.