Merlog warns SA poultry supply crisis could worsen despite lifted import ban

MERLOG Foods has voiced concerns over a lingering shortage of mechanically deboned meat (MDM) despite the Department of Agriculture (DoA) lifting an eight-week ban on poultry imports from Brazil due to an Avian Flu outbreak earlier this week.

- YOGASHEN PILLAY

The ban, triggered by a case of bird flu on a single farm in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, had cut off 95% of South Africa’s MDM supply from 15 May

Merlog Foods manager, Georg Southey said it was expected to take a few months for supply and prices of the input material for polony and sausages to stabilise.

“We, however, believe this situation can reoccur in the case of another bird flu infection in Brazil,” he said.

Southey said that what was needed was an agreement between the two countries on a regionalisation protocol that would allow unaffected areas of Brazil to keep exporting MDM and chicken, so that a future isolated outbreak does not halt shipments from a very large country.

“Regionalisation is a scientific protocol supported by the World Organisation for Animal Health, and an agreement on this between the two countries is imperative. The DoA must urgently engage with Brazil to agree on a regionalisation protocol to prevent a full country ban in the instance of a future infection of bird flu in Brazil,” he said.