Restrictions lifted in Yorkshire AI zone

Six days and the eggs will have to be downgraded
Six days and the eggs will have to be downgraded

Movement licences were set to be issued to egg producers in the Yorkshire avian influenza zone today as authorities confirmed that there had been no new outbreaks.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has given the go-ahead for the licences to be issued as long as laying flocks are certified clear of AI by a vet. Movement licences are being issued individually to producers once they have complied with DEFRA requirements.

The development will be welcome news for producers whose eggs have been piling up since a 10-kilometre exclusion zone was put in place around a duck unit near Driffield where avian influenza was confirmed. Movements of all poultry, products and waste within the restriction zone have been banned since restrictions were put in place.

There were fears that eggs that could not be moved off-farm in time may be downgraded to second status, impacting financially on the producers involved. The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) estimates that more than 750,000 eggs are currently sitting on laying farms in the restricted area. It says it is working with DEFRA to try to get them moved. Producers are being told that they need to have an EXD100 form in order to get a licence for the movement of their eggs.

Yesterday the British Free Range Egg Producers’ Association (BFREPA) said that it was pressing for movement licences to be issued as soon as possible so that producers could get their eggs off farm and to packing stations. Today BFREPA’s director of policy, Robert Gooch, said it was good news that the licences would now be issued. “A vet will need to sign off that the flock is healthy but once that is done producers should be able to obtain the licences they need. We will, of course, continue to monitor the situation,” said Robert.

The culling of the 6,000 birds on the affected duck breeding unit has been completed. Carcasses have been sent for rendering. “The cull is to prevent the spread of potential infection, and has been carried out in a safe and humane manner by fully trained APHA staff,” said DEFRA. “Our response to this outbreak follows tried and tested procedures for dealing with avian flu outbreaks,” it said.

The movement restrictions in the affected area have impacted on egg producers in the zone who have been unable to ship their eggs off to packing stations. Stewart Elliott of the egg co-operative Eggsell, which is based in the East Riding of Yorkshire, although outside the zone, said that they had, fortunately, made a collection from inside the restricted area just before it was sealed off. But he said that unless they could get permission to move other eggs from the zone by the end of the week the eggs would not be able to be sold as class A.

“Six days and the eggs will have to be downgraded,” he said. “Fortunately we made a collection from producers inside the zone on Sunday. We don’t normally collect on Sundays but we did so this time because we were short of eggs. In that respect we are all right at the moment. It’s worked out as well as we could have expected.”

Tim Warkup, who has 30,000 free range birds on two sites in North Frodingham, which is within the surveillance zone, and who supplies Noble Foods, told the Yorkshire Post that he had a collection on Sunday, too, but he did not know when there would be another collection because of the restrictions imposed by DEFRA.

Although the Eggsell packing station, which is near Driffield, is outside the exclusion zone, Stewart Elliott said that Eggsell did have producers inside the restricted area. “We have been talking to DEFRA every day. We need a special licence from them to move eggs out of the zone. As long as we can get that we should be OK but I don’t know how long it will take. If we can shift the eggs by Friday they will be able to go as class A. Otherwise they will have to be downgraded.”

So far the outbreak appears to have been contained to the duck breeding farm where the AI was detected. The BEIC has issued a circular confirming that there have been no new outbreaks, although scientists have confirmed that the strain of AI involved on the duck unit is the same H5N8 strain involved in outbreaks in Germany and the Netherlands.

DEFRA says that one possible source for the AI outbreak is wild birds. It is advising advising poultry keepers to follow good practice by minimising contact with wild birds while the origin of the infection is being investigated. These include:

• Isolating new birds before they are placed with existing farm birds in order to prevent possible disease spread;

• Reducing the likelihood of contact with wild birds by making sure housing is bird proof, minimising contamination by wild birds of feed and water supplies and avoiding siting of housing near water;

• Thoroughly cleaning and disinfecting housing at the end of a cycle;

• Minimising potential contamination from manure, slurry and other products that could carry disease, by reducing movements of people, vehicles or equipment into and from areas where poultry are kept;

• Cleansing and disinfecting protective clothing, footwear, equipment and vehicles before and after contact with poultry. If practicable, producers should use disposable protective clothing.

DEFRA says that poultry keepers should also be extra vigilant in providing clean drinking water and food, preferably indoors, to prevent possible contamination. “It is essential that anyone keeping poultry is vigilant for any signs of disease and seeks prompt advice from their vet if they have any concerns. Premises within the protection and surveillance zones are subject to specific requirements in relation to biosecurity,” said DEFRA in a circular.

Both DEFRA and Public Health England have said that the risk to public health from the outbreak is very low. The Food Standards Agency has said that there is no food safety risk for consumers.