Zonal chairman, Bangalore zone, National Egg Coordination Committee (NECC), B.R. Sainath said: “While egg consumption is gradually increasing, the industry is losing money because people are still wary about buying eggs and chicken. Egg sales have dropped by about 20-30 per cent,” reports the Asian Age.

Karnataka produces 1.3 crore eggs each day and Bangalore consumes about 45 lakh eggs every day. The price of one kilogram of chicken hovers around Rs. 22 now, while production costs hover around Rs. 65 for a kilogram.

The price of one egg on Friday (30 November) was Rs. 2.75, while production costs hover around Rs. 2.80 per egg, leading to losses, Mr Sainath said.

“People can buy eggs and chicken without any hesitation. The state government moved fast to contain the bird flu outbreak at the Central Poultry Development Organization (CPDO), located 40 kms away from Bangalore. The disease did not spread to any commercial farm anywhere in the state,” added Mr Sainath.

"Moreover, chicken prepared in Indian style is cooked at a very high temperature, around 70 degrees centrigrade, and this automatically kills viruses, if any," Mr Sainath concluded.