AR-News: (United Arab Emirates) Bird flu fails to dampen Chinese appetite for fresh chick

[Animalara2003 at aol.com]

23 March 2004 


HONG KONG - The arrival in Hong Kong this week of a batch of frozen chickens, 
ending an import ban imposed as avian flu raged across Asia, received a 
chilly reception in the territory where appetites remain insatiable for fresh 
birds. 
Hong Kong has been without a constant supply of chicken, the city?s favourite 
meat, for at least two months since imports from Asian suppliers were banned 
as bird flu spread through the region.
But even after the suspension was partially lifted Monday to allow 24,000 
frozen or chilled chickens in from China, diners were turning their noses up. 
They still wanted fresh chicken -- alive and ready for slaughter.
Eating freshly-killed poultry is a generations-old gastronomic tradition in 
southern China. Markets and stores are usually alive with the squawk of caged 
fowl.
But over the past two months the territory has been forced to cut down on its 
daily intake of the birds as outbreaks in China of avian flu, strains of 
which can kill humans, prompted authorities here to ban imports.
As mainland China is Hong Kong?s single largest source of poultry, 
consumption plunged from 150,000 chickens a day to just over 20,000.
The resumption of imports of chilled and frozen chicken on Monday, however, 
did nothing to satiate Hong Kong?s craving for chicken.
?Meat from live chickens tastes very different from frozen chicken,? 
complained Emily Ng, a 34-year-old mother of two, as she shopped for dinner in a 
bustling food market in the Wan Chai district.
?Chilled meat is no good at all. It has no flavour and is less chewy,? she 
added.




full story:

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/todaysfeatures/2004/
March/todaysfeatures_March45.xml&section=todaysfeatures 
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