The spread of human cases of bird flu into Iraq has started to hit the poultry business in the Gulf, where governments are tightening measures to protect animal stocks and telling the public to stay calm, reports Reuters.

Although there is no indication that the virus can spread to humans through eating cooked poultry, Saudi consumers have begun to turn away from chicken products after several confirmed fatalities from bird flu in Turkey and Iraq.
“Chicken sales in our restaurant division are down by 20 per cent, though I expected worse,” said Tareq Fakieh of al-Fakieh, one of Saudi Arabia’s largest poultry firms, producing 400,000 chickens and one million eggs a day.
Al-Fakieh and major Saudi producer al-Watania said soon after the fatalities in Turkey and Iraq were reported that they would maintain production for the time being, pinning hopes on a government advertising campaign to convince consumers that poultry is safe.
Saudi authorities imposed a ban on all live poultry imports late last year, but because domestic production is so large it has had little impact on European imports to the Gulf region.
The ban in the Gulf’s biggest market of 24 million people does not cover prepacked. Although retailers have reported a shift to red meat, chicken consumption remains solid among Saudis.
In the UAE, poultry producers lost Dh20 million ($5.5 million) worth of sales as consumption dropped around 50 per cent from mid-October to mid-January.