CAIRO: Egypt will make it easier to import frozen meat to combat rising prices after shoppers spurned chicken following cases of bird flu in the North African country, the Trade and Industry Ministry said on Saturday. Many Egyptians have reacted with anger over the surge in meat prices, which some say have risen as much as 20 percent. The price of fish has risen 40 percent, market sources said, as shoppers turn to alternatives to chicken. The Trade and Industry Minister Rachid Mohamed Rachid has made the decision to reform some of the laws related to the import and export of meat to make importing meat easier, the state s official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The report added that poultry once constituted 60 to 70 percent of all meat eaten by Egyptians, who have reacted with alarm to the outbreak of bird flu. The virus has been found in 13 of Egypt s 26 governorates, and the city of Luxor. Telephone hot lines have been jammed in recent days as Egyptians seek bird flu advice. The government has had to quash rumors such as the Nile itself had been contaminated with the virus. Earlier in the day, Environmental Affairs Minister Maged George said most calls were from people requesting the removal of domesticated fowl, adding that some poultry breeders had been releasing their stock into the streets in panic. The government has said it is containing the spread of the disease, and has set up daily environment police patrols around greater Cairo to check for cases of bird flu. Seventy two people from around Egypt were checked for H5N1 avian flu virus on Friday, but none were found to have the human form of the disease. A separate MENA report said Egypt had begun to distribute 80,000 doses of Tamiflu to hospitals around the country. Tamiflu is an anti-viral designed to fight human influenza and tests show it may be effective in reducing the severity of H5N1. Reuters
