A turkey scarcity driven by bird flu and other factors has led to surging prices for consumers. But even if you can get your hands on a prized bird, is it safe to eat? Here's what you should know in advance of the Thanksgiving holiday.
, which monitors the poultry market, FarmEcon president Thomas Elam explained that the effects of bird flu coupled with rising inflation costs has resulted in extra-high turkey prices at the grocery store this year.“Traditionally, retailers have absorbed a lot of the wholesale price of turkeys around Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Elam said. “But since January, we've had 20% to 25% increases, and it's been a steady increase in wholesale whole bird prices.
Though your turkey dinner may be stuffed with a cornucopia of extra costs this year, you can rest assured it’s safe to eat. Infected turkeys or those that may have come in contact with sick birds are euthanized before they can enter the food system, but you should still take proper precautions.that cooking poultry and eggs to an internal temperature of 165˚F kills bacteria and viruses, including bird flu viruses; and there’s no evidence that anyone has gotten bird flu after eating properly cooked poultry products. As with any raw meat, you should also wash your hands before and after handling uncooked turkey.
“Influenza viruses can survive for several hours on surfaces, including raw bird meat. However, cooking kills viruses,” Dr. W. Ian Lipkin, director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said in an email to Yahoo News. “The greater risk is infection with the bacterium salmonella.
The CDC says humans rarely get bird flu, and the risk to the general public is low. Those more likely to contract the virus are people working in jobs with prolonged, direct exposure to infected live birds. Since the World Health Organization began tracking human cases of influenza A virus — the predominant strain of bird flu
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