Italian poultry sales continued to plunge on Tuesday despite reassurances from the Italian government that the bird flu virus which killed six wild swans over the weekend has not spread to the country's chicken farms.

Italian Farmers Confederation said results of an instant poll carried out across the country showed that eight out of ten consumers admitted they would not buy poultry.

The confederation that news that birds carrying a highly pathogenic strain of bird flu virus had reached Italy had caused more panic and was dealing "a death blow" to the sector which has already lost some 550 million euros since October.

It urged the Italian government to launch an advertising campaign providing consumers with facts and to dispel hearsay about bird flu.

The government should also offer "concrete assistance" to farmers, especially small and free-range producers who are the worst-hit by the current crisis.

Italian Civil Protection chief Guido Bertolaso said the situation posed no threat to consumers and was "dramatic" only for the country's economy.

"This is a veterinary problem and will be restricted to that sector if we take preventive measures instead of spreading misleading information," said Bertolaso.

Italian Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno said he planned to ask the European Union to approve government measures to help chicken farmers during talks in Brussels next week.

Meanwhile, Italian environmental police impounded 80,000 chickens and 7,000 eggs in two of the southern regions where dead swans were found over the weekend.

Officials said the chickens in Calabria and Sicilian farms were not penned in, a measure the government has enforced to avoid contact with wild fowl carrying the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu.

Source: Xinhua