What to know about bird flu risk: Are my chicken wings safe?

NEW YORK — Bird flu circulating in a handful of live poultry markets in New York City prompted weeklong closures of markets in the region for the week.

The bird flu risk to the general public is low, officials and experts agree. Most people likely don’t get their meat, including chicken, from live markets. But the concern — seen from prior bird flu outbreaks globally — is live poultry markets are a key source for the virus to infect people and other animals.

“The markets are obviously a place of the greatest immediate concern,” Stephen Morse, a professor of epidemiology at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, told USA TODAY. Bird flu hasn’t been identified in poultry markets or people getting sick in New York before, he said, “So it’s a wise precaution.”

The precautionary measure aims to stave off further spread that, so far, has infected more than 60 people across the U.S., mostly with mild infections among agricultural workers but one death of an older person in Louisiana in early January. The virus has circulated among dairy cows, poultry and wild birds throughout the country.

U.S. food supplies are considered safe from bird flu, but there are steps people can take at home to prevent risks, especially heading into Super Bowl weekend.

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Are your Super Bowl chicken wings safe?

If you cook them thoroughly, yes. To be clear, uncooked or undercooked poultry or beef, or unpasteurized milk, can make you sick with a variety of illnesses, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But if you cook your chicken and eggs to the right temperature — at an internal temperature of 165 degrees — it will inactivate bacteria and viruses, including bird flu.

At the same time, separate uncooked poultry from other foods, cooked or not, as you prepare those Super Bowl platters. For example, don’t place raw meat next to the celery sticks that will go with your buffalo wings.

Are my eggs safe?

If you can find eggs in stores or you’re willing to pay a high price, and you cook them thoroughly, they are safe.

What about my milk?

Yes, if you buy milk that’s pasteurized, an established practice of rapid heating that has been shown to kill viruses and bacterias. Raw milk, however, can carry bird flu. Several cats have died from bird flu after consuming raw milk.

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Live markets source of concern

People at more immediate risk are those that work in live markets or people who recently bought live or freshly killed animals from the markets, Morse, of Columbia, said.

He pointed to the Hong Kong bird flu outbreak in 1997 in poultry markets that were the source of the virus. Then, the virus didn’t develop to transmit between humans, but 18 Hong Kong residents were infected and six died, according to a report by local agriculture officials.

The outbreak was contained by killing more than 1.5 million birds in the poultry markets. But the virus ended up spreading out among poultry and wild birds in Asia, with outbreaks popping up periodically.

Animals in live markets are often in crowded conditions, said microbiologist Marcy Peteroy-Kelly, dean of Manhattan University’s Kakos School of Arts and Sciences. With bird flu, chickens have been particularly susceptible to infection and death.