French anti-bird flu measures mean foie gras shortages and high prices this Christmas

FRANCE’S foie gras industry has warned that shortages and soaring prices are likely to continue into the festive season following a bird flu scare that has led to a 25 per cent drop in production of the controversial delicacy.

Foie gras, seen as a must in most French households at Christmas and New Year, is made out of the fattened liver of geese and ducks that have been force-fed grain.

Jean-Jacques Caspari of the foie gras industry association CIFOG, said: “We can expect an increase in the price of foie gras of between 10 and 20 percent.”

The industry still has “12 to 18 months” before it can recover from a bird influenza scare that erupted in November last year at a chicken farm in the Dordogne region, said Mr Caspari.

The highly virulent H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus is lethal to birds but is not easily passed on to humans. However, when it does jump to man it is fatal in about 60 per cent of cases, according to the World Health Organisation.

The risks of infection are highest when a human comes into very close contact with an infected live bird. As a preventative measure and to reassure consumers, agriculture officials responded to the outbreak by imposing restrictions on 4,000 poultry farms in 18 départements, or counties, until mid-May.

The first new birds deemed fully safe will arrive at abattoirs starting from Aug 16. The measures to stamp out the disease have lost the industry around €270 million (£222 million), according to CIFOG.

Farms will have to spend a further €220 million on upgrading to new norms to avoid fresh outbreaks, it said.