Source: Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE, 12/1/14

The International Poultry Council wrote a letter urging members to work with their respective governments to ensure that influenza-related trade bans do not include poultry breeding stock.

Findings of higly pathogenic H5N8 influenza in poultry flocks in the Netherlands, German and the U.K. have caused several governments worldwide to suspend poultry trade with those three countries, including hatching eggs and day-old chicks.

IPC officials worry that such restrictions, in addition to those banning poultry meat, could quickly cause shortages of available birds to replenish production flocks.

IPC President Jim Sumner noted that primary breeding companies produce hatching eggs and chicks in strictly controlled, bio-secure facilities, and that they are shipped to international buyers by air freight.

"Some importing countries have needlessly banned transit of all poultry, including breeding stock, through affected countries, without considering the real level of risk," he wrote. "Breeding stock is shipped by air, and the transiting chicks are confined to airport grounds for only a few hours before an onward flight. Since the chicks or hatching eggs in transport are housed in special containers that require no additional handling, contact with the outdoor environment is nonexistent. This mode of transshipment poses negligible risk for spreading diseases such as influenza."

The letter calls on members to urge their governments to adopt the concept of regionalization, particularly for trade in breeding stock from countries with influenza.

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