Wednesday, 13 April 2022 06:55

NZ poultry jealousy guards disease-free status

Written by  Nigel Malthus
Michael Brooks says the NZ poultry industry is strongly supportive of really strong biosecurity rules on potential imports of raw products. Michael Brooks says the NZ poultry industry is strongly supportive of really strong biosecurity rules on potential imports of raw products.

The current bird flu outbreak in Britain is a reminder of why it is important for New Zealand to maintain its biosecurity standards, says the local poultry industry.

The UK is experiencing its largest ever outbreak of bird flu (avian influenza H5N1) and measures to prevent the virus from spreading include keeping birds inside.

Under their disease containment rules, producers had a 16-week grace period under which they could continue to call their eggs "free range" despite the birds being kept inside. However, that has now expired and they can only be marketed as "barn eggs". Free range eggs have now disappeared from British supermarket shelves.

New Zealand is unique in the world in not having any of the big three poultry diseases - avian influenza, Newcastle Disease and Infectious Bursal Disease (IBD, aka Gumboro), says Poultry Industry Association (PIANZ) executive director Michael Brooks.

To keep it that way, imports of raw chicken or raw eggs are prohibited. Raw turkey and duck are allowed under strict rules but Brooks - who told Rural News in 2018 that he was concerned at proposals to allow it in - says imports haven't happened because meeting the required standards would be a lot of effort and cost for what is a very small market.

"I said if they can meet those rules we have no reason to be concerned but I'll be surprised if they can meet the rules - and that seems to be what's happened."

Brooks wears three hats, as the executive director of the PIANZ, which represents poultry meat producers, the Egg Producers Federation, and also the NZ Feed Manufacturers Association, which covers manufacturers of a whole range of stock feeds, not just poultry.

He says there was an outbreak of IBD about three years agao on a farm in Otago but it was eradicated from that one site and not found anywhere else.

"To this day we don't know how - we have a suggestion that a mislabelled vaccine may have been the issue, we don't know. But whatever, it's gone."

The industry tests every farm annually for IBD in a self-funded programme, without government support.

"There's always threats and that is the part of reason why we have always been strongly supportive of really strong biosecurity rules on potential imports of raw products," Brooks adds.

"No other country in the world has freedom from those three diseases. So, we argue very strongly that if people say there should be imports of raw chicken or eggs, we say only if it can be shown that they're coming from countries or farms overseas where there is guaranteed freedom."

He says that is extremely hard to do when you farm in a country where it's all around.

"Plus, who knows what those those diseases could do to our native fauna? New Zealand began as a rather unqiue country in that all our native fauna is avian."

More like this

'Terrible idea'

OPINION: With media putting so much effort into covering the issue of children not really liking the school lunch they never asked for in the first place, it's understandable they've paid little if any attention to the looming threat to the NZ economy - bird flu.

Let’s be MPI’s eyes and ears

OPINION: The recent detection of Avian Influenza (AI), a low pathogenicity strain H7N6, at a free-range poultry farm in Otago has the agri sector focused on biosecurity. While the situation is cause for concern, the emphasis is on not panicking but remaining vigilant. The key message? Biosecurity is everyone’s responsibility.

No bird flu on second farm

Biosecurity New Zealand says test results to date from a small free-range layer chicken farm near Dunedin are negative for avian influenza.

Featured

NZ household food waste falls again

Kiwis are wasting less of their food than they were two years ago, and this has been enough to push New Zealand’s total household food waste bill lower, the 2025 Rabobank KiwiHarvest Food Waste survey has found.

Editorial: No joking matter

OPINION: Sir Lockwood Smith has clearly and succinctly defined what academic freedom is all about, the boundaries around it and the responsibility that goes with this privilege.

DairyNZ plantain trials cut nitrate leaching by 26%

DairyNZ says its plantain programme continues to deliver promising results, with new data confirming that modest levels of plantain in pastures reduce nitrogen leaching, offering farmers a practical, science-backed tool to meet environmental goals.

National

Machinery & Products

Tech might take time

Agritech Unleashed – a one-day event held recently at Mystery Creek, near Hamilton – focused on technology as an ‘enabler’…

John Deere acquires GUSS Automation

John Deere has announced the full acquisition of GUSS Automation, LLC, a globally recognised leader in supervised high-value crop autonomy,…

Fencing excellence celebrated

The Fencing Contractors Association of New Zealand (FCANZ) celebrated the best of the best at the 2025 Fencing Industry Awards,…

» Latest Print Issues Online

The Hound

A step too far

OPINION: For years, the ironically named Dr Mike Joy has used his position at Victoria University to wage an activist-style…

Save us from SAFE

OPINION: A mate of yours truly has had an absolute gutsful of the activist group SAFE.

» Connect with Rural News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter