April 10, 2006

Brazil officially launches bird flu prevention programme

Brazil officially launched its bird flu prevention programme Friday (Apr 7) in Brasilia, complete with a chicken luncheon for government officials.

Starting Monday, Brazil will only permit commercial travel of live chickens, eggs and poultry meat from meat packers registered with the federal government and monitored by satellite.

Should bird flu arrive in Brazil, all chicken transportation will be banned between states. The prevention plan also permits states with stronger animal defense mechanisms to temporarily block commercial transport of chicken products if they can prove a neighbouring state represents a health risk to their poultry flock.

Santa Catarina, the second largest chicken exporting state in Brazil, will turn the transportation policies outlined in the federal government's bird flu prevention programme into a state law next week. State officials will meet on Apr 11 to discuss how to take additional action should neighbouring states like Parana, the biggest chicken exporter in Brazil, ever comes down with any of the various bird flu strains.

Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues said at the event that "there's a big chance that the disease will never reach Brazil".

Rodrigues said North American migratory birds, which are believed to be the main carriers of the virus, are being monitored by the government. He said the migratory birds would be found by US and Canadian authorities and killed before arriving in Brazil.

Brazil is the world's biggest chicken exporter and the arrival of the disease here would drastically reduce profits of some of Brazil's largest, publicly traded meat exporters, such as Sadia and Perdigao, and have side effects on feed suppliers in the soy and corn industry.