After the bird flu outbreak in February in India, the poultry market saw a steep fall in the sales of chicken. But later on when the government assured the people that all the necessary measures are being taken to protect the people and the birds from the avian flu the sales of chicken and other birds saw a small rise in sales. However every time when there are deaths due to bird flu the sales dips drastically. Every time there is a bird flu scare the people who are affected the worst are the shopkeepers. One such incident is that of Javed Alam.
When bird flu first struck two months ago in Mumbai he pasted several large newspaper advertisements to the walls of his butcher shop announcing that cooked chicken and eggs were still safe to eat. But all this was in vain. Till date even his regular customers avoid chicken and his efforts have hardly helped him. It has been almost two months now and his business is going from bad to worse. He says that his meat counter in a busy north Mumbai market is hardly visited by any customers. Bird flu delivered a massive blow to India's poultry trade. Despite the massive culling of birds and house to house surveillance the people who are worst affected are the meat vendors.
