NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Chicken processors and restaurants including KFC, Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms are taking steps to ease public concern over the bird flu virus that could severely damage the $50 billion a year industry, according to a report Monday.

The advertising industry magazine Ad Age said Yum Brands (Research), parent company of KFC, is preparing television commercials and other materials to reassure customers that it's safe to eat chicken. The report also said Perdue and Tyson (Research) have prepared press releases offering information on avian flu.

Yum Brands executives said it could expect a 10 to 20 percent drop in KFC's U.S. sales based on its experience in China, according to the article, which also sited a separate analyst saying poultry demand is slipping 20 to 40 percent in parts of Europe and Asia on bird flu fears.

Perdue told Ad Age that no known cases of bird flu have been contracted by eating poultry and a KFC official cited a World Health Organization report that said the disease cannot be contracted by eating cooked chicken.

But a Department of Agriculture official said recently that it's theoretically possible for people to get bird flu from eating undercooked, diseased chicken, according to the article.

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Bird flu could cost nation $550 billion. Click here