Chicken Industry Plans to Test Flocks

By Libby Quaid

WASHINGTON (AP) - Chicken companies intend to test every chicken flock in the United States for bird flu before slaughter, an industry group said Thursday.

The National Chicken Council said companies that make up more than 90 percent of the nation's production have signed up for testing and that more are expected to follow. The U.S. produced more than 9.5 billion chickens in 2005.

The council didn't release names of companies in its voluntary testing program, but spokesman Richard Lobb said, "Practically all the big ones are in it."

The testing program, which the industry will finance, calls for 11 birds to be tested from each chicken flock, or farm.

There are an estimated 150,000 flocks produced each year, which would mean around 1.6 million chickens would be tested. Samples will be collected on farms and tested at state or industry-certified laboratories.

If testing indicates highly pathogenic bird flu is present and results are confirmed by the Agriculture Department in Ames, Iowa, the flock will be destroyed on the farm, Lobb said. None of the birds from the affected farm will enter the food chain, the council said.

The virulent form of bird flu in Asia has not been found in the U.S. and is only now spreading into eastern Europe. Authorities there say that cooking kills the virus; health officials in the U.S. say that eating properly handled and cooked poultry is safe.