No chicken price increases due to bird flu outbreak —Palace

There will be no increases in the prices of poultry products stemming from the avian flu outbreak in the province of Pampanga, Malacañang said Sunday.

"(W)e assure the public that there would be no price increase in chicken meat as there is only one area affected by the avian flu," Presidential Spokesperson Ernesto Abella said in a statement.

Last week, Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol declared a bird flu outbreak in a poultry farm in Barangay San Agustin in San Luis town in Pampanga.

Piñol said that outbreak began in a quail farm and later spread to nearby poultry farms.

The Department of Agriculture has since ordered the quarantine of the affected areas, including the culling of a poultry and related birds within a one-kilometer radius.

Culling of an estimated 200,000 chickens began on Sunday.

"Concerned government agencies are now looking at businesses that might take advantage of the situation and are monitoring the price of raw and processed chicken meat in the markets," Abella said.

"(W)e must see to it that uncontaminated meat is sold in the markets," he added. —Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas/LBG, GMA News