Poultry industry concerned at UK bird flu clean-up costs and procedures

An American vet has told British producers of a cheaper and quicker way to deal with secondary cleansing and disinfection following avian influenza.

The huge clean-up costs following bird flu have become a major concern for the egg industry in the United Kingdom. Cleansing and disinfection following the recent outbreak in Lancashire cost £500,000.

A representative of the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) told egg producers at a meeting in Yorkshire that APHA was looking at the possibility of a “more proportionate” solution.

An American vet at the meeting, Ian Rubinoff, said US authorities had already approved one.Ian, who is a technical services vet with Hy-Line, told members of Yorkshire Egg Producers Discussion Group at the meeting near York that the United States Department of Agriculture had approved the use of heat disinfection, which was far cheaper than conventional secondary C and D.

Gonzalo Sanchez-Cabezudo, veterinary head of field delivery in the North of England for APHA, told those attending the discussion group meeting that it would probably be necessary to review the way that secondary C and D was done in this country.