SA poultry in a flap over US bird flu

The decision allowing America to lift or impose export bans during outbreaks 'will be devastating'

- Lyse Comins

South Africa's poultry producers have criticised a government decision over highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), which is rampant in the United States and Europe, that would harm the local industry.

The department of agriculture's recent decision to temporarily allow the United States to impose and lift bans on its poultry exports to South Africa when there are bird flu outbreaks in that country would prove to be “devastating” for local producers, South African Poultry Association chief executive Izaak Breitenbach said this week.

“The Americans obviously look after their own producers' interests so they will do the cut-offs to suit them. In other words, they will sail a lot closer to the wind, to the disease, and therefore risk us. We can't let America control themselves in terms of the importation and lifting and implementation of bans. That is a huge conflict of interest,” Breitenbach said.

“All poultry-producing states in the US have been affected, and 27 of those states are currently banned by the South African authorities from exporting poultry to this country. By granting the United States the right to determine its own disease status and export policies, the [department of agriculture] has created a serious conflict of interest.

“They can't control HPAI in their own country, yet they get given the responsibility to control it in South Africa. The risk is palpable: a country grappling with widespread outbreaks of bird flu can now prioritise its own interests and potentially expose South Africa to the very disease that cost this industry R9.5 billion and wiped out 30% of its long-living chicken flock in 2023.”

Breitenbach said the decisions had previously been taken by the department of agriculture based on US notifications to the World Organisation of Animal Health.