Bird Flu: Centre reassures eating chicken, eggs safe

Poultry meat cooked at more than 70 degree Celsius for 30 minutes inactivated the virus and is safe to consume, Centre's guidelines say

The Ministry of Fisheries, in its latest report on Bird Flu, requested state governments to ‘rethink’ their decisions to impose a ban on the sale of poultry products and urged them to allow sale of poultry items sourced from the non-infected areas/states.

"It is reiterated that the consumption of well-cooked chicken and eggs is safe for humans. Consumers should not heed to baseless rumours that are unscientific and often lead to confusion," it said.

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The Centre, in its report, mentioned that poultry meat cooked at more than 70 degree Celsius for 30 minutes inactivated the virus and is absolutely safe to consume properly cooked poultry meat and eggs.

“Bird flu cases have been confirmed in poultry in Latur, Parbhani, Nanded, Pune, Solapur, Yavatmal, Ahmednagar, Beed and Raigad districts of Maharashtra till January 16,” the report stated.

Besides, bird flu in crow has been confirmed in Chhatarpur district of Madhya Pradesh, in Surat, Navsari and Narmada districts of Gujarat as well as in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand and Kanpur district of Uttar Pradesh.

According to the report received from the Mumbai-based Central Poultry Development Organisation, the Centre said that unusual mortality of poultry was found in a farm. The samples have been sent to the designated laboratory for testing.

Following the central government's advisories, states are undertaking awareness generation activities through newspaper advertisements and social media platforms.

Also Read | Over 2,000 birds culled in Maharashtra's Parbhani, Beed districts amid bird flu scare

Also, continued efforts to generate awareness about bird flu and how to deal with the situation are being shared among the public through various media platforms, including social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook handles, the ministry added.

In India, bird flu or avian influenza is spread mainly by migratory birds coming into India during winter months from between September and March. The disease is zoonotic.