KFC has said that the bird flu scare in China will not have a large influence on its performance, the Beijing Times reports. At the same time, however, the fast food chain has introduced a new seafood menu item - shrimp balls - at its 1700 locations in China. According to KFC, this new product is the result of over ten months of planning and its introduction now has nothing to do with the bird flu. This is the fifteenth new menu item KFC has introduced this year; it will remain on the menu until 8 January. A source with KFC revealed that the company had suffered small losses at the beginning of the bird flu scare but that performance had returned to normal. Link: http://www.bjt.net.cn/news.asp?newsid=128702