Most americans dont know enough about bird flu

A nationwide survey has been carried out into public knowledge, attitudes, intentions and behaviors in regard to the threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Researchers at the Food Policy Institute at the Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station carried out 1200 telephone interviews between May 3 and June 5, 2006.

The results show that most Americans have heard about avian influenza but admit the dont know much about it. Most know that there is a highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza in people, birds, and poultry globally, but many didnt know that there have been no human or animal cases in the U S.

Americans judge their current risk of avian influenza infection as low and aren't worried about it. They see the supply of chicken products as safe and continue to eat it.

Interestingly, most felt the risks of infection from avian influenza was much greater for other people than for them.

“This tendency to believe that others are at greater risk may be a problem in getting messages across, in influencing perceived susceptibility, and in persuading people to adopt appropriate behaviors,” says Sarah C. Condry, the lead author of the study.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
“The chance of infected poultry or eggs entering the food chain would be extremely low because of the rapid onset of symptoms in poultry as well as the safeguards in place, which include testing of flocks and Federal inspection programs.”

The USDA also claims that, “Cooking poultry, eggs, and other poultry products to the proper temperature and preventing cross-contamination between raw and cooked food is the key to safety.”

Despite this, according to William K. Hallman, director of the Food Policy Institute,

“The results of the study suggest that much of the American public does not yet have the information they need to make informed choices about purchasing, preparing, and consuming poultry products, should avian influenza emerge in the United States.”

Less than half of those surveyed believed that cooking chicken to the recommended temperature kills the avian influenza virus and only four-in-ten believed that the avian influenza virus is not transmissible to humans from eating fully cooked chicken or eggs.

“The methods for destroying avian influenza during the cooking process are the same as for destroying salmonella,” said Hallman. “If poultry contaminated with avian influenza is cooked properly, a person cannot get sick from eating the finished product.” According to the USDA, poultry and egg products should be cooked to the minimum safe internal temperature of 165 °F.
One problem is that surveys by the Food and Drug Administration suggest that fewer than 60 percent of Americans own a meat thermometer and only 12 percent always use it when they cook chicken or chicken parts.

According to Condry, “Consumers are likely to try to eliminate the risk entirely by avoiding consumption of poultry altogether.”

The study concluded that if pathogenic avian influenza was found in chickens in the United States, almost 40% of Americans say they would stop eating chicken products altogether. Even after receiving reassurances that it is safe to eat chicken, it would take an average of nearly five months for the majority to start eating it again.

This would of course result in a major drop in domestic consumer demand and would result in significant economic losses for the poultry, food industry and for families.

According to Hallman, “Chicken serves as a popular, low-cost source of protein for many American families.”

The result would be increases in the prices of alternative sources of animal protein resulting from higher consumer demands for substitutes for chicken products and the costs of feeding a family would rise.

Source: news release; Rutgers, State University of New Jersey.