Fast food restaurants will today join the campaign to boycott red meat, serving only poutry and fish, said Wagdi Khalifa, head of the Chamber of Tourist Establishments. More than 3000 restaurants, including chains as famous as Abu Shakra and Chili's, will join the boycott. Restaurants that violate the boycott will be disciplined, said Khalifa, through penalties ranging from a warning to being stripped of membership in the chamber. While the Consumer Protection Agency said the campaign to boycott meat continues, Mohamed Wahba, head of the butchers sector at the Cairo Chamber of Commerce, said the campaign will not bring about a reduction in meat prices. On the other hand, Saad el-Hayani, head of the buffalo association, said the prices of live cattle dropped last week and butchers will in turn cut their prices. And Mohamed el-Shafei, head of the Egyptian Federation of Poultry Producers, said an increase in local production of poultry--projected to rise in May to 1.5 million birds a day--will help reduce the prices of red meat Importers warned that the crisis might deepen since a two-month ban on sea fishing is due to be implemented in Egypt starting from May. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
