Consumers lose taste for chicken

Twenty four farms have been quarantined and more than 170,000 chickens culled

HONG KONG, China -- The current bird flu outbreak has overshadowed preparations in Hong Kong for next week's Lunar New Year celebrations.

Residents are losing the taste for chicken -- a traditional New Year dish and popular all year round -- with market sales of the birds dropping by 80 percent.

Officials from the Hong Kong Poultry Wholesalers' and Retailers association have accused the government of failing to protect poultry sales by boosting public confidence in chicken.

The association's Steven Wong Wai-chuen says that demand for the product is suffering during a time when sales are normally boosted by 50 percent.

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"Chinese New Year is only a few days away," Wong told the South China Morning Post. "We are really concerned about the situation."

"Officials keep reiterating the possibility of centralized slaughtering and imports of chilled chickens from the mainland -- it is very depressing."

As many as 20,000 poultry workers face losing their jobs, Wong said in the Post report, unless the outbreak is stopped and consumer confidence returns.

Many restaurants in the Chinese territory have kept chicken on the menus due to its popularity during the festive period.

But many customers have been choosing other dishes including seafood, beef and pork over poultry in the wake of the bird flu outbreak.