Beijing's veterinary authority said Tuesday that poultry products in Beijing markets are safe and free of bird flu.

Millions of people in the Chinese capital are busy preparing for the Chinese Lunar New Year, or Spring Festival, that falls on Jan. 22 this year, with soaring purchases of food, vegetables and meat of all kinds.

Starting on Jan. 17, the Beijing municipal veterinary health inspection and quarantine department organized blanket inspections of poultry farms, slaughterhouses, cold stores and supermarkets to hold in check any possible occurrence of bird flu.

The Ministry of Agriculture issued emergency directives Monday requiring veterinary and quarantine units to report bird flu situations to higher departments every day.

It was the second emergency notice from the ministry following the outbreak of bird flu in Vietnam, the Republic of Korea (ROK) and Japan.

Officials from Beijing's veterinary authority said that the city-wide inspections had found no bird flu-affected poultry products or products from the three Asian neighbors that had reported bird flu.

The forestry bureau of Beijing, the upper authority of the veterinary health inspection and quarantine department, has been on high alert.

The deadly virus highly contagious among chickens is believed to spread to humans through contact with infected birds, but therehave been no reports of the disease spreading from person to person. China has listed the virus as one of the most detrimental on the prevention list.

(Xinhua News Agency  January 21, 2004)