Despite assurances: Chicken sales slow
DESPITE assurances from the Ministries of Health and Agriculture, the Poultry Association, and the Supermarkets Association (SATT) —that the nation’s poultry stock is healthy and fit for human consumption — there remains some hesitancy by consumers to purchase chicken. Newsday visited several groceries throughout Port-of-Spain and its immediate environs yesterday and in some of the groceries, there were few consumers buying chicken and stocks of whole fryers. However, in other groceries, there were still large stocks of chicken on the shelves, but it could not be determined if aspergillosis was responsible for this. Some restaurants claimed sales of chicken were slow. In a statement yesterday, SATT sought to reinforce statements made by other bodies that chicken was safe to eat and the population had nothing to fear from aspergillosis. SATT said it has been assured by these bodies that aspergillosis and not avian influenza affected certain chicken farms in TT, and that chickens infected with aspergillosis "will not survive to reach the market to be sold." The association also stated, "it has been confirmed that aspergillosis cannot be transferred from birds to humans either occupationally or through ingestion of poultry meat, and therefore poses no risk to human health." Assurances from Agriculture Minister Jarrette Narine, Agriculture and Health Ministry officials and the local poultry body have not convinced the population that appropriate measures have been put in place to ensure the wholesomeness of the chicken reaching the supermarkets. Nutrimix officials had previously indicated there was no chance of a chicken shortage taking place in TT as a result of aspergillosis reports last week.
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"Despite assurances: Chicken sales slow"