Brazil extends avian flu health emergency for 180 days - ministry

BRF SA

07/11/2023 19:30

By Ana Mano
       SAO PAULO, Nov 7 (Reuters) - Brazil's agriculture
ministry has extended a national health emergency for another
180 days due to more detections of the Highly Pathogenic Avian
Influenza (HPAI) virus in wild birds, according to a statement
on Tuesday.
    The highly infections virus has not yet reached commercial
flocks, meaning Brazil's status as an avian influenza-free
country before the World Organization for Animal Health remains,
the statement added.
    Outbreaks in commercial flocks, which have happened in major
chicken producers like the United States, could trigger export
bans.
    Japan temporarily banned Brazilian chicken products coming
from Espirito Santo state in late June and from Santa Catarina,
Brazil's second largest producer and exporter of chicken, in
mid-July.
    “The fight against bird flu is an issue that deserves
everyone's attention, as the spread of the disease can impact
different sectors of the country," Agriculture Ministry Carlos
Favaro was quoted as saying in the statement. "The extension
will give us more security to face this crisis without major
risks."
    Brazil, the world's top chicken exporter and home to giant
meatpackers including BRF  BRFS3.SA  and JBS  JBSS3.SA , for the
first time confirmed HPAI cases in wild birds on May 15.
    Brazil's first health emergency was decreed a week later in
a bid to prevent the disease from reaching subsistence and
commercial poultry production, as well as to preserve the
country's fauna and human health, the statement said.
    The ministry said that to date Brazil has 139 confirmed
outbreaks of the disease, including in wild birds, subsistence
poultry and mammals.

 (Reporting by Ana Mano; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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