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Loss of avian flu-free status has cost ?25million in lost exports
News - FG | 20 April, 2007
UNITED Kingdom poultry breeders are losing out on millions of pounds of revenue in exports due to the length of time being taken to cleanse the sheds at the heart of the Bernard Matthews avian flu outbreak.
Credit: ? FARMERS GUARDIAN please contact 01772 799445.
Poultry breeders are missing out on export revenues due to cleansing legislation regarding avian flu.
Legislation states that after an outbreak, litter from poultry sheds must be stacked up and composted for 42 days. This should be followed by two thorough cleansing and ?de-greasing? sessions of the sheds seven days apart. Procedure then states that the houses should be locked up and left empty for 21 days.
The problem is that the UK will not regain its Avian Influenza free status until three months after the 21-day lock-up period. In the meantime a number of ?third? (non-EU) countries will not accept poultry or poultry products from the UK. Others are taking some UK poultry but not from the geographical area of the outbreak.
According to NFU poultry chairman Charles Bourn, this has already cost the poultry breeding industry nearly ?25 million in lost exports of parent, grand-parent and great-grand-parent stock. ?It is a huge problem that nobody has an answer to,? he said.
Peter Bradnock of the British Poultry Council said: ?There are serious concerns on the part of some companies whose exports are being held up.? Bernard Matthews is not to blame for the delay, he said. There have also been issues with how to dispose of the litter from the sheds. It cannot be spread on farmland and a local power station will not take it, for fear of alarming other poultry producers who send litter to the plant.
http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=9050
News - FG | 20 April, 2007
UNITED Kingdom poultry breeders are losing out on millions of pounds of revenue in exports due to the length of time being taken to cleanse the sheds at the heart of the Bernard Matthews avian flu outbreak.
Credit: ? FARMERS GUARDIAN please contact 01772 799445.
Poultry breeders are missing out on export revenues due to cleansing legislation regarding avian flu.
Legislation states that after an outbreak, litter from poultry sheds must be stacked up and composted for 42 days. This should be followed by two thorough cleansing and ?de-greasing? sessions of the sheds seven days apart. Procedure then states that the houses should be locked up and left empty for 21 days.
The problem is that the UK will not regain its Avian Influenza free status until three months after the 21-day lock-up period. In the meantime a number of ?third? (non-EU) countries will not accept poultry or poultry products from the UK. Others are taking some UK poultry but not from the geographical area of the outbreak.
According to NFU poultry chairman Charles Bourn, this has already cost the poultry breeding industry nearly ?25 million in lost exports of parent, grand-parent and great-grand-parent stock. ?It is a huge problem that nobody has an answer to,? he said.
Peter Bradnock of the British Poultry Council said: ?There are serious concerns on the part of some companies whose exports are being held up.? Bernard Matthews is not to blame for the delay, he said. There have also been issues with how to dispose of the litter from the sheds. It cannot be spread on farmland and a local power station will not take it, for fear of alarming other poultry producers who send litter to the plant.
http://www.farmersguardian.com/story.asp?sectioncode=1&storycode=9050