Chicken Producers to Test Flocks For Bird Flu

Seeking to reassure people that chicken is safe to eat, companies that raise chickens said yesterday that they will test every flock for bird flu before the birds are slaughtered.

Companies that account for more than 90 percent of the nearly 10 billion chickens produced in the United States in 2005 have signed up for the program and more are expected to join, according to the National Chicken Council, a trade group.

"We just want to assure people of the safety of the food supply," said council spokesman Richard L. Lobb.

Consumption of chicken in the United States has been steady despite worries about a virus strain that has infected millions of birds throughout Asia and parts of Europe and has killed 74 people.

The virulent form of bird flu in Asia has not been found in the United States and is only now spreading into Eastern Europe.

Health officials say it is safe to eat poultry that is properly handled and cooked.

Chicken prices in stores have dropped in recent months, mostly because production is up and exports are down, said David Harvey, a poultry analyst for the Agriculture Department's Economic Research Service.

The council did not name the companies that are participating in the program, but Lobb said that "practically all the big ones are in it."

Lobb said the companies are already testing birds ahead of the program's start on Jan. 16. The program is voluntary.

The plan is for 11 chickens to be tested from each flock or farm. The council said that the average flock has 55,000 to 60,000 birds and that an estimated 150,000 flocks are produced each year. That would mean more than 1.6 million chickens would be tested.

"For the industry to step up like this and start the testing program is a very important improvement," said Caroline Smith DeWaal, food safety director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer group, but she urged even wider testing of birds.