Chicken and eggs back on menus

After a bird flu outbreak last month in a western town of India scared millions of people off poultry and cost the industry more than 12 crore rupees, slowly but surely, chicken and eggs are returning to dinner tables and restaurants. Authorities said that the H5N1 avian flu infection among poultry in Navapur, Maharashtra state, had been contained and no human cases had been reported in the country. Since then many Indians have returned to chicken curry and other chicken dishes. The government is also pitching in to reassure consumers. A chicken stands proud in an Indian government newspaper advertisement, saying: "Chicken! Egg! Here we come again on the dining table!" another one says "Isn't it tempting?" showing a well-cooked chicken surrounded by vegetables and half-cooked eggs. "So go for it". In Kolkata in eastern India, chicken sellers are giving away a kg of onion with each chicken to boost sales. With word spreading about the offer, people are slowly coming to buy chicken," said a chicken seller. A popular return to chicken would be a relief for millions of eateries and butchers, who have seen business plunge. According to estimates the poultry lost about 40 crore rupees a day for two weeks and is still losing crores of rupees a day. It has been a bad dream for chicken sellers as chicken sales fell by 99 percent.