Nearly a quarter of a million birds will be killed after avian influenza was detected at a farm in the Hawkesbury district of New South Wales (NSW).
The NSW government activated an “emergency biosecurity incident plan” in a bid to contain the virus after bird flu was detected at the poultry egg farm.
Testing by the CSIRO National Research Laboratory confirmed the pathogenic H7N8 strain of avian influenza at the farm.
Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the government has locked down the egg farm, issued a “control order” to depopulate the farm, and spoken with surrounding farms.
“Last night we started depopulating the farm, in a humane manner, following Australian Veterinary guidelines. This process will take up to 5-7 days to depopulate 240,000 birds.”
A further control order has been activated to legally lock down the movement of machinery, materials, animals, and transport over a two-kilometre radius.
This order applies to three large commercial poultry farms, affecting up to 355,000 birds under monitoring for signs of the virus.
“There will be no movement of eggs, birds, or machinery out of the zone during the control order,” she said.
“We are acting on this bird flu outbreak and will do everything to work through this challenging time for the egg and chicken meat industry.”
The NSW government has been liaising with the federal government, egg industry, and other states in a bid to release compensation funds for impacting producers.
No Need to Panic: Premier
Premier Chris Minns told NSW residents to stay calm, telling reporters “there’s no reason to panic.”“The information that we’ve received from the experts who are tasked with setting up a quarantine and ensuring the safety of agricultural products is that it’s contained to this one site,” Mr. Minns said.
Health Minister Ryan Park echoed this sentiment, noting that the virus does not easily transmit between people or from animal to human.
“This presents like many other flus and provides those sort of flu-like symptoms that people get,” he said.
This follows the revelation that more than one million birds will be killed in Victoria to halt the spread of bird flu. The high pathogenicity H7N3 strain was confirmed at a commercial egg farm in the Golden Plains Shire on June 17. All poultry at the property will be humanely disposed of under veterinary supervision.
However, Agriculture Victoria said consumers do not need to be concerned about eggs and other poultry products.
“They do not pose a risk and are safe to consume. Victoria has a secure supply chain including the importation of eggs from interstate, so the current outbreak has not significantly affected supplies,” the agency noted.
Australia’s Food Safety Regulator recently reassured Australians that bird flu is not a food safety concern and it is safe to eat chicken, eggs, and egg products that are properly prepared and handled.
FSANZ chief executive officer Sandra Cuthbert said Australia’s world-class biosecurity and food regulation systems ensure the safety of the food supply.
“Together, biosecurity and food regulation measures provide confidence in the safety of the food supply,” she said.
In reaction to the Victorian outbreak in late May, Head of the Biosecurity Program at the Kirby Institute Professor Raina MacIntyre said avian flu viruses do not transmit easily in humans because they are adapted for birds, which have different receptors in their respiratory tract to ours.
However, she noted they can mutate to become adapted to the human respiratory tract.
“For now, we have an avian flu outbreak in farmed birds which is not the most feared strain, thankfully. Whether H5N1 can get here via wild birds remains an open question.”
