Welfare proposal, bird flu hit EU poultry business
Poultry sales have plunged by more than 50% in parts of Italy and by more than 90% in Greece, two of the countries where the H5N1 strain of bird flu, potentially lethal to humans, has been found.
H5N1 has also been found in Austria and Slovenia.
French poultry producers have warned of staff cuts due to declining poultry consumption, down 12% compared to 12 months ago. Free-range producers were worst hit by a 30% slump in demand.
The EU’s top vets meet today in Brussels to analyse the bird flu situation.
France and Germany are about to force farmers to keep free range poultry indoors.
Bird flu has killed birds in 20 countries and infected at least 166 people, killing 88 of them.
Experts fear that H5N1 could evolve into a strain that could be passed from human to human, not just from birds to human as is currently the case, sparking a human flu pandemic.
The virus is only two mutations away from a form that can spread easily between people, said Dr David Nabarro, who heads the UN drive to contain the health threat.
“I wake up every morning thinking that today could be the day that I will see a report about a strange case of bird flu among humans,” he said.
But it’s a 16% poultry house stocking density reduction proposed by the EU as an animal welfare measure that could close down the EU poultry industry, warns MEP Mairead McGuinness.
She said that unless the European Commission immediately implements welfare friendly labelling on all chicken meat, EU and non-EU, to allow consumers make an informed choice, this directive will close down the industry.
“We will be buying chicken from all over the world, ignorant of how it is produced and in the meantime we will have closed down poultry farms, resulting in job losses,” she warned.
