OK, This may sound weird but, how about carry-out...

I am not trying to be funny by posting this. I am very serious.

I have read a few comments about "that duck you order at the oriental place is probably oriental imported duck." I am wondering if most oriental carryout places get their chicken from overseas because of price or for any other reasons, then would it be safe to say that until this H5N1 thing gets under control people may be best off staying away from these places. At least the chicken dishes.

I am hoping that someone who knows a bit more can respond to this because I seriously love my General Tso's, and I want to be able to continue to patronise my favorite lunch place with confidence.

Ask them where they buy their chicken...

I honestly doubt that imported fowl would be cheaper than domestic. Although... with migratory patterns domestic fowl wont be any better by next year is my guess.

apparently, you cannot catch bird flu from eating poultry, but i still wouldnt chance it, ask them where they get their meat from, and find an alternative restaurant where chicken is from the same country. Or, you could make it you're self, buying the meat from a domestic farm etc.

without even knowing it?

There are lower grade meats, that sell cheap because they had some kind of disease (not communicable to humans) or cancer.
Before we all freak out over eating chicken or duck, let's reassure ourselves that the poultry being imported from asia goes through very strict checkpoints before reaching our mouths, asia has killed millions of chickens because of this strain and i'm sure it's taken a toll on their economy. I don't think they are stupid enough to send us infected poultry that could hinder their economy even more and potentially hurt relations. Look at canada and the us when mad cow was the big issue. They banned canadian meat for a couple years, Asian countries don't want that same thing to happen to them i'm sure.

wouldn't "cooking" your meat kill of most bacteria and virus, I mean chicken, most people fry their chicken these days, and well frankly I think a lot of thing would be dead if it's drowning in boiling grease at a temperature of like 300 fahrenheit and up. Well maybe some.

[edit on 1-11-2005 by skyblueff0]

It depends on what temperature the virus/disease can survive under, most will be killed when cooked.

I'm guessing a lot of places sell low grade meat without you knowing, chip shops for example will have a certain % which sell low grade meat. Hey, that classy restaurant down the road which charges ridiculous prices for it's chicken dish might even be doing the same. All they have to do is put some fancy sauce on and a few bits of green and who knows any different?

Originally posted by Conspirator_101
apparently, you cannot catch bird flu from eating poultry.....

Wow...that statement is very wrong. Under cooked chicken can still harbor H5N1 particulates and you can become infected by it. A lot of infections B2H came from people eating undercooked poultry. Seems that they like it when the meat is slightly pink at the bone....also be very careful of ANY imported meat. A 1996 piece of FROZEN duck meat tested last year had viable H5N1 virus in it.

We might become a nation of "beef" eaters after all!

Penn State Dept of poultry science lists several links to Avian science groups, vets, national growers associations, etc.

One group they mention is the National Chicken Council , who has a pretty decent question and answer section...

Perhaps you have heard about avian influenza, or "bird flu," in Asia. Maybe you are wondering if there is any danger of getting "bird flu" from eating chicken or turkey.

* The answer is "No." The facts are: The type of avian influenza occurring in Asia is called H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza (H5N1 HPAI). We have never had H5N1 HPAI in the United States and do not have it now.

* We do not import any chicken, turkey, or poultry products from Asia. The fresh poultry products you see in the store are all produced in the United States except for a very small amount produced in Canada.

* Avian influenza is caused by a virus. Like all microorganisms, it is killed by the heat of normal cooking. Washing the hands after handling raw poultry is always a good precaution, but there is no danger of getting avian influenza from normally and properly cooked poultry. The normal precautions for handling and cooking poultry are printed on the package.

While this group may also be a lobbyist for the poultry industry, their information should be on the up and up........

Large poulty producers like Tyson, Holly Farms, and Cagle contract with American growers for their chickens, furnishing the chicks, the feed, the medicine, etc......these farmers, each raise hundreds of thousands of chickens in a years time, getting just pennies for each bird, I cannot believe it would, in any way be cost effective to pay for shipping from overseas!! In fact we ship to them! And while I have no personal experience with 'duck farming', I would imagine the same holds true for them, as well.

The Amerian Meat Institute also states on their web site,

The US is a net exporter of poultry and does not import Asian poultry

So this should mean that the restaurant poultry, duck and chicken, is also home grown!


And chicken should never be eaten partially cooked, the risk of salmonella and ecoli are too high, even when there is no risk of the avian flu.......and always wash and even disinfect surfaces that come into contact with the raw meat!!

.

Don't worry about duck or chicken at Chinese food places... it's probably really cat anyway.

Originally posted by craig732
Don't worry about duck or chicken at Chinese food places... it's probably really cat anyway.

Amen to that!

I just got back from the grocery store and I am just disgusted! Almost every piece of meat on sale had "Product of US Canada and Mexico" on the package. Even the frog legs (gross) had made in China on the package! Like we have frog shortage here!@ I urge everyone to NOT buy these products. If you find it in store turn package upside down so maybe others will check it more carefully! Ask the store manager for American only beef or meat. I didn't have any luck with store manager though. I was told that just because it had that label on package, it just meant that it may or may not have come from those other countries. I left my entire cart of food and went to a local farm and bought my meat from then, I had to pay more but at least I feel safer eating it.