RFA Ethanol Podcast

Avian Flu: It’s Not In Your Food

Chuck Zimmerman

I don’t know about you but I’m getting a little tired of all the avian flu news. I was at a church dinner recently and overheard an elderly couple discussing it. The man was explaining what a pandemic is and how many people in the United States would die if “it” gets here.

Maybe you’re wondering about it too. If so, you might want to visit www.avianinfluenzainfo.com. It’s a simple website designed for one purpose – to provide facts about avian flu. The home page title says it all: “Avian Influenza: It’s not in your food.” BTW. I like simple websites. Why can’t they all be that way?

It looks like the site was put together by the “poultry industry,” meaning The National Chicken Council, The National Turkey Federation and The Egg Safety Center. Their main focus is on the fact that this isn’t a food safety issue but a health issue. That’s why we should feel very safe eating our turkey next week here in the United States.

It seems like the media wants to speculate on the pandemic potential without a care about facts and a look at history. It’s a real disservice to their audience. Although avian flu is very real and has been the cause of millions of birds being killed in Asia and about 116 people actually contracting the disease from their close contact with infected animals I just don’t see why we should be scared to death of it. At least not until it starts moving human to human for example. This hasn’t happened. Maybe it never will.

I feel better now. Looking forward to cooking a bird next week.

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