UNDATED (WSAU-Wheeler News) Ham for Thanksgiving? It probably won’t come down to that — but a new survey shows that more than half of U-S consumers are concerned about the bird flu’s impact on the safety of turkeys, chickens, and other poultry.
The national market research firm of N-P-D found that 34-percent of consumers are somewhat or slightly concerned about the avian flu outbreak that has hit Wisconsin and other states in the northern U-S. Another 17-percent said they were extremely-or-very concerned — even though all of the poultry at the infected sites has been killed, and none of it has entered the food chain. The U-S Centers for Disease Control says rare cases of human infections have been reported after coming in contact with infected poultry.
Many of the frozen turkeys that will be bought for Thanksgiving meals have already been harvested. It’s unclear what the impact will be on fresh turkey prices.
Wisconsin has not recorded a bird flu case in just over two-and-a-half weeks. Part of Juneau County was removed from a quarantine list this week, but people still cannot take poultry to large bird gatherings in Chippewa, Jefferson, and Barron counties at least until the end of this month. Also, Wisconsin has no plans to prohibit bird displays and judging competitions at state-and-local fairs, after neighboring Minnesota imposed the same ban earlier this month. New York State announced the same ban yesterday.
