Poultry, eggs flying off mainland menus
As bird flu cases on the mainland continue to rise, a luxury hotel in Shanghai which serves both Cantonese and Shanghai cuisine has taken chicken, duck and pigeon off the menu as a precautionary measure.
The Grand Hyatt's public relations office said: 'It's so people cannot complain.'
Meanwhile, the general manager of the city's Peace Hotel, Xu Weiming, said demand for chicken had slumped. 'The hotel has withdrawn all poultry dishes that are served rare and recommends that guests wishing to order scrambled eggs ask for them to be well-cooked.'
The Mei Lin Ge restaurant is just one of those in the city following the lead of the big hotels. It has taken poultry off the menu and is serving a limited number of cooked egg dishes.
Zhang Lixia, public relations manager of the Carrefour supermarket chain, said demand for chicken and duck had dropped, but egg sales were unaffected.
But it's a different story at the New World supermarket in Beijing. 'We're still selling eggs. The price is stable, but sales have declined by about 30 per cent,' said a spokesman.
Sally Wang, assistant manager of the Chinese restaurant at Beijing's five-star Great Wall Sheraton Hotel, said chicken, duck, goose and pigeon were taken off the menu this week, but egg dishes were still available.
'If guests order egg dishes we will cook them at more than 75 degrees Celsius. We are sterilising the eggshells before we cook them and have set up a garbage bin especially for eggs,' said Ms Wang.
At the Xinqiao Hotel, eggs have been removed from the menu, with customers being told the move has been sparked by bird flu.
But fears that fresh eggs may soon be banned have prompted some people to resort to extreme measures.
'I'm eating as many eggs as possible,' said Beijing travel agent Ji Yanli. 'So many chickens are being slaughtered that perhaps there won't be any eggs in future.'
