Curious Cook: Bird flu may be forever

Wild birds tend to transmit the avian influenza. — ENGIN AKYURT/Pexels

Spring has finally arrived here in France, and this time, it came with some unwanted surprises. The war in Ukraine has led to shops limiting the purchases of pasta, flour, and cooking oils due to the lack of exports from Ukraine. To make matters worse, France is currently suffering from the worst avian flu crisis in its history, which is causing the prices of poultry to rise to previously unimaginable levels.

An estimated 15 million high-quality farm birds have already been culled in France due to HPAI (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza), and the irony is the poultry most likely to be destroyed are those that are free to roam outdoors, as HPAI is transmitted by the many wild birds that criss-cross the country, usually as migratory flocks.