February 1, 2007

Indonesia to ban live poultry trade to curb bird flu

Indonesia's agriculture ministry intends to ban live bird trading as part of regulatory  measures to curb the spread of bird flu, Agriculture Minister Anton Apriyantono said Tuesday (Jan 29).

He said live poultry could easily become carrier of the virus and thus a medium for the transmisson of the virus so that their transportation from one region to another needed to be stopped.

Chickens that had been slaughtered, boiled or chlorinated were more protected against the bird flu virus, he said.

This means that poultry farms must eventually be integrated with poultry slaughter houses, he added.

The regulations, however, would only be applied to large-scale poultry farms which would also have to be located away from residential areas. Assistance would be given to smaller farms to build slaughter houses and obtain the relevant licences.

The minister said the regulations are expected to be issued in two weeks.

Thousands of poultry farmers have threatened a protest in Jakarta after the government promised mass culling in the event of poultry outbreaks.

Addressing protests on the country's poultry culling policy, the minister said the policy was not aimed at eradicating poultry but creating order in the poultry breeding sector. Culling would only be carried out on infected chickens or those that have a high risk of infection, he said.

Poultry organisations have urged the government to regulate and improve the system of poultry production in farms as bird flu outbreaks of bird flu had caused panic among consumers such that they are afraid of eating chickens. The organizations recommended a poultry-eating campaign to allay people's fears of poultry consumption.