France intensified measures on Sunday to reassure consumers and contain the spread of bird flu after the spread of the deadly H5N1 bird flu in the country.

France ordered a 10-day ban on anybody approaching small lakes in the Dombes region after some 50 dead swans and ducks had been collected in the past four days.

French Agriculture Minister Dominique Busserau confirmed earlier in the day the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu had been detected in 15 wild swans found dead in eastern France.

Chicken consumption has been already down 30 percent till Saturday when France confirmed that at least 400 turkeys had died of H5N1 on the a farm, the first bird flu case on a European farm.

France is the first big poultry producer in Europe and the fourth big one in the world, with 30,600 commercial poultry farms, which produce 700 million birds a year and represent annual revenues of 6 billion euros (about 7 billion dollars).

Japan and Hong Kong have placed embargos on French imports of poultry and poultry products.

Source: Xinhua