The Taipei City Government yesterday gave away more than 3,000 bowls of sesame oil chicken soup at the Taipei Livestock Wholesale Market to boost consumers’ confidence in domestic chicken products, following a recent outbreak of H5N2 avian flu.
Chefs invited by the Taipei Livestock Products Marketing Corp loaded chunks of chicken into a soup seasoned with sesame oil and invited residents to enjoy a free bowl for lunch.
Deputy Taipei Mayor Chen Hsiung-wen (陳雄文) oversaw the public feast. He said the city -government had introduced a series of anti-avian flu quarantine measures to keep the H5N2 virus at bay.
Photo: CNA
All chickens and other poultry are to be inspected on being sent to the wholesale market, and certification stickers will allow consumers to know they are purchasing products that have passed health and safety tests.
Taipei’s Market Management Bureau Director Ding Juo-ting (丁若亭) said the municipal livestock market handles between 60,000 and 80,000 chickens each day, while more than 5,800 registered birds come from private chicken or livestock farms.
Wholesale trade in chicken products has fallen 30 percent since the bird flu outbreak began, he said.
“The city government is tightening quarantine measures to ensure the safety of chicken products, and consumers should not be too worried about the avian flu as long as they purchase products with certification stickers,” he said.
Since the outbreak was confirmed earlier this month, more than 50,000 chickens have been culled in areas around Greater Tainan and Changhua County, the Council of Agriculture has said.
While the Center for Disease Control emphasized that the H5N2 strain cannot be passed from animals to humans, local governments have been enhancing quarantine measures to ease public concerns about food safety.
Ding said the city government would increase the number of blood samples taken from birds from 300 to 600 a month.
The more rigorous inspections should enhance food safety, Ding said.
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