Flu has not hurt Hormel's turkey sales

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Meat company Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) on Monday said U.S. sales of its turkey products have not been hurt by concerns about the deadly bird flu that is spreading overseas, but the company is spending a lot of time monitoring the disease.

The H5N1 strain of avian influenza has never been found in the United States, but there have been worries that consumers here, like those in Europe, would turn away from poultry out of fear of contracting the disease.

"We have not seen any decline in demand." Hormel Chief Executive Jeffrey Ettinger told the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago. "We have not seen any signs in terms of our domestic sales of our turkey items."

Hormel is the largest U.S. turkey producer, with about 18 percent of the market.

Hormel, like other U.S. poultry producers, is testing flocks for the H5N1 strain of avian influenza (AI), which has killed 95 people overseas and infected 175 since 2003.

"We have been testing for AI and other things for years," said Ettinger.

While the deadly strain has never occurred here, the U.S. Agriculture Department and U.S. food companies are worried that it could.

"We certainly are spending a lot of time on it. I don't know that the cash expenditure in recent months has been any more than what we have spent over the past several years," Ettinger said.

Cooking poultry will kill the virus and Ettinger said much of Hormel's turkey products are cooked. Hormel does not produce chicken.

U.S. exports of chicken have slowed because of a decline in consumer sales overseas. Recently U.S. chicken company Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (PPC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said the slowdown in chicken exports has hurt its business.

The U.S. chicken industry as a whole exports about 15 percent of its production. Recent U.S. government reports have shown that some of that exportable chicken is piling up in U.S. warehouses, which analysts blame on the slowdown in overseas demand due to the bird flu.