The top management of Kentucky Fried Chicken's Qianmen restaurant held a news briefing Thursday to assure customers that the food served at his restaurant, the first KFC restaurant to open on China's mainland 17 years ago, was safe from bird flu.

Similar news briefings were also held Thursday in Guangzhou, capital of south China's Guangdong Province, and north China's Tianjin Municipality.

Colin Tan, general manager of KFC Beijing, told Xinhua Thursday that chicken meat served in all mainland-based KFC outlets are from birds raised locally, and all the 30 KFC chicken suppliers are required to provide complete quarantine and inspection certificates upon delivery to KFC.

The manager admitted bird flu has somewhat affected KFC's chicken supply but said the current supply can meet demand.

"KFC is not considering changing the current prices or substituting other materials such as fish for chicken," said Tan.

In fact, many other restaurants and food-related industries on the mainland have taken similar steps to strengthen customers' confidence about eating poultry meat, stressing that strict quarantine and inspection measures have been taken across the country.

In response to the deadly bird flu, the Beijing-based Quanjude Roast Duck Restaurant, famous for its crisp and appetizing Beijing Duck, has narrowed its duck sources to nearby regions where no bird flu cases have been reported, and demands that its suppliers provide standard quarantine certificates.

Statistics show that recent sales at the duck restaurant remain the same on a year-on-year basis.

A notice recently released by the China Cuisine Association banned sales of raw and medium-done poultry-related dishes in the country, leading to an immediate decrease in the availability of chicken-based cold dishes, soup and hotpots in restaurants across the country.

However, some Chinese gourmands remain loyal to their tastes, despite the danger of catching the deadly virus.

Although daily sales of "Duck Neck," a specialty of Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province, dropped from the previous 20 baskets a day to 12 at the Jingwu Duck Neck Shop, one of the most frequently visited duck neck outlets in the city, quite a number of local residents still can not resist the temptation of the delicately cooked duck neck.

"Government departments will safeguard us against eating virus-tainted duck necks", a Mr. Wang said while queuing to buy Jingwu duck necks Thursday.

The Ministry of Health recently released an emergency notice demanding strict inspections and quarantine checks on poultry markets across China.

Beijing and Shanghai cities, and Hubei and Hunan provinces have banned dealing in poultry products without quarantine certificates and demanded regular sterilization checks in restaurants and markets.

Hu Ping, an official from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce, said Thursday that the capital city is capable of meeting local residents' demands for bird-flu-free poultry products, and customers can "eat poultry products sold in Beijing without any worries whatsoever."

(Xinhua News Agency February 5, 2004)