An outbreak of bird flu is pushing poultry prices higher

An outbreak of bird flu is pushing poultry¹ prices higher

Transcript²

NPR's Leila Fadel speaks with professor Kathleen Liang at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University about how bird flu is driving up the price of poultry.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Prices at the grocery store can be, well, startling these days. If you're trying to buy chicken, the sticker shock can be even uglier. The USDA says the average price for a pack of chicken breasts went up nearly 80 cents over the past week. Add to that concerns over an outbreak of bird flu, and those costs could keep going up. To dig into this a little more, we've asked Kathleen Liang to join us. She's a professor of sustainable agriculture at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University. Good morning, professor Liang.

KATHLEEN LIANG: Good morning, nice to be here.

FADEL: So how are these new bird flu outbreaks affecting what are so far a few commercial flocks?

LIANG: The - according to the scientists' report and other tracking system that people observe, right now, the poultry - the commercial flocks was affected³. The number was about 22 million birds and then 24 in 24 states. And based on the evidence that it started with the wild bird and the mobility⁴ of the wild bird being in contact with domestic flock, and that was the situation based on all the reports.

FADEL: So what role is the - are these outbreaks playing in the high prices at the grocery store?

LIANG: That's a great question because, first of all, we have to euthanize the sick birds. Those birds will never come to the market. So the demand of the chicken remains⁵ high. The USDA also has data to show that chicken consumption is actually a little bit higher than the beef and the pork over the time.

FADEL: Right.

LIANG: And then another reason for the price situation beyond the bird flu going through is about the input⁶ - the cost affected by the current inflation situation and the influence of the input costs, such as the feed and the utilities, the gasoline, through the supply chain processing, transportation, the handling and even packaging. So it's two factors combined that we observe the price increase.

FADEL: So how can the industry limit bird flu outbreaks like this in the future?

LIANG: Now, there are two ways to look at it. In the short term, based on - again, based on the scientists' report, the industry is doing a really good job to improve the biosecurity to reduce the outbreak, such as reducing the contact with the wild bird and enhance the sanitization, clean up feed to avoid attracting wild bird and for workers to use protection gears, gloves and wash, shower, clearly after being contact with the flock. And for the long term, the technology and science advancement⁷ give us some advantage that we can identify better methods to detect, trace, monitor and identify the cases as soon as possible and then to improve the indoor-outdoor environment for chicken health and to identify alternative dietary to improve the immunization and the overall health for the whole flock.

FADEL: Kathleen Liang, professor at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical State University, thank you so much for being on the program.

LIANG: Thanks for having me.

1 poultry   

n.家禽，禽肉

参考例句：

• There is not much poultry in the shops. 商店里禽肉不太多。
• What do you feed the poultry on? 你们用什么饲料喂养家禽?

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 mobility   

n.可动性，变动性，情感不定

参考例句：

• The difference in regional house prices acts as an obstacle to mobility of labour.不同地区房价的差异阻碍了劳动力的流动。
• Mobility is very important in guerrilla warfare.机动性在游击战中至关重要。

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 input   

n.输入(物)；投入；vt.把(数据等)输入计算机

参考例句：

• I will forever be grateful for his considerable input.我将永远感激他的大量投入。
• All this information had to be input onto the computer.所有这些信息都必须输入计算机。

7 advancement   

n.前进，促进，提升

参考例句：

• His new contribution to the advancement of physiology was well appreciated.他对生理学发展的新贡献获得高度赞赏。
• The aim of a university should be the advancement of learning.大学的目标应是促进学术。