Poultry prices to rise as Asian chicken flu spreads

Pub grub favourite chicken tikka masala could be off the menu as poultry prices soar in the wake of Asia's avian flu epidemic.

Chicken prices in the UK are set to rise as suppliers struggle to cope with the lack of imports coming from Asia.

This week the EU banned chicken imports from Thailand, where the outbreak has reached epidemic proportions. Other infected countries, including Japan, South Korea and Cambodia, do not export to the EU.

Many British-based chicken suppliers, such as Norfolk's Grampian Chicken - which counts many pubs among its customers, import a large amount of their poultry from Thailand where it is far cheaper to produce the meat.

Cheaper production costs means suppliers can pass those savings on to their customers - who include hundreds of pubs across Britain.

But with imports from Thailand banned, suppliers will have to turn to European or American chicken. And with greater demand on diminishing stocks, prices will inevitably rise.

"As a major food production business Grampian Foods Siam takes all matters concerning food safety and animal welfare seriously," said Grampian's Alasdair Cox.

"As a responsible business we are following the disease control measures implemented by Thailand's department of livestock development to prevent any potential spread of this outbreak. We have implemented very exacting bio-security conditions on all our sites."

According to the government's Food Standards Agency and the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs the epidemic, which has killed eight people in South East Asia, does not pose a risk to British people.

However, it could, in theory, spread to UK chicken flocks and potentially be devastating for British farmers. "I am very keen to ensure we do everything possible to prevent the disease being introduced into UK poultry flocks via imports of meat," said animal health minister Ben Bradshaw.

"Although we have assessed the risk of importing the virus in meat or meat products as low we cannot take any chances. I welcome the swift action taken by the EU to suspend imports."

Chicken slaughtered before January 1, 2004 can still be imported so Thai poultry will still be available for a while. There is no need to be concerned about any chicken you may have already purchased.

Pictured: Classic chicken korma​