Consumers urged to keep eating poultry
British consumers were today urged to keep eating poultry after a wild swan was feared to have died from the deadly strain of bird flu.
Producers said contingency plans were in place and people should continue to buy and eat poultry as normal.
Anna Jonas, poultry adviser to the Soil Association, said: “There really shouldn’t be any consumer worry about this, particularly not from UK poultry.
“It has been a characteristic of other European countries where cases have been found that consumer confidence in poultry has dropped.
“There is no science behind it. As long as you are not drinking the raw blood of chickens, then your risks are very low.
“We are talking about a disease of birds not humans. Consumers can have confidence in UK poultry.
“We have been talking to producers since last autumn, saying they need to have contingency plans if we do get to a point where birds need to be shut indoors.
“What they are looking at mainly is being able to shut them in a house, or netting part of their range area to stop mixing with wild birds.
“If we get it in a commercial farm that farm will have to be culled but a rapid cull of that farm will stop it spreading from there.
“It’s not like foot-and-mouth that suddenly appeared and was moving before we knew it.”
Andrew Gunther, a Soil Association organic poultry farmer, said he was “very confident” the industry would not be affected.
He said: “I think the Scottish Executive and the farming community in Fife have reacted so well to this that there will be very limited impact on the poultry industry.
“We are all professional farmers and we have been preparing for this since last year.”
Soil Association director Patrick Holden said the organisation had been in regular contact with Defra concerning possible control strategies.
He said: “We have been reassured by verbal statements from senior officials that any such strategy will avoid the mass culling and medieval funeral pyres of foot-and-mouth.
“Now that it appears that bird flu has arrived on these shores, we trust that Defra’s assurances will hold firm.
“We value the positive dialogue we have had with Defra over recent months, in contrast to the ultimately fruitless discussions we had with their predecessor Maff during foot-and-mouth.
“But a key factor in our ongoing support must be that Defra confirm there is a plan B above and beyond any basic policy of culling infected flocks should the disease spread to commercial farms.
“Plan B must include the option of using strategic vaccination to contain any outbreak.
“We were told verbally that sufficient vaccine had been ordered to offer this additional, proven tool for controlling disease spread, but have yet to see that confirmed in writing.
“All the Soil Association’s organic poultry producers have been long prepared by our technical team to reduce risk of any contact with infected wild birds and we have contingency plans in place to ensure an effective balance between protecting human health and maintaining the welfare of organic birds.”
The UK’s largest trade union representing poultry workers called for a “calm and measured” response.
Chris Kaufman, Transport and General Workers’ Union national secretary for agriculture, said it was important to keep the one case in proportion and echoed scientists’ and vets’ view that there was no reason to stop eating poultry.
He said: “No-one should be complacent. But, equally, one case should not make a whole industry vulnerable.”
The union has called on Defra Minister Ben Bradshaw to agree a four-point plan for countryside, poultry and food-industry workers.
It includes immediate risk assessments to cover poultry hatcheries and processing operations and British government financial support for poultry workers who may be temporarily laid off in the event of any bird-flu outbreak.
