British Lion is to halt most on-farm inspections in the face of the growing coronavirus epidemic hitting the United Kingdom.
With the government appealing for people to avoid unnecessary contact, the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has now decided to suspend most on-farm inspections for the Lion code.
"We have been keeping the position of Lion Code audits under review on a daily basis," the body said.
"This included liaising with Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) in terms of them also continuing to carry out inspections on farms and in packing centres.
"With the new advice from government on the continuing coronavirus situation, we have taken the decision to cease physical audits of Lion registered sites with immediate effect.
"NSF are currently working on a protocol for remote assessments and further details of what this will look like will be circulated in the coming days.
"This could also include the assessor asking the site to provide coverage via a smart phone or similar (e.g. providing coverage of the site)."
BEIC added: "The only physical audit that will take place will be on newly registered laying sites. The conditions attached to this are: agreement from the site, the subscriber and the auditor.
"Both the site and auditor would need to confirm good health with a risk assessment agreed by both parties."
Defra is so far saying that its inspections will continue as normal: "APHA is currently continuing with its farm inspections regime," it said in a written response.
"APHA is following the latest government advice and will continue to re-assess this position based on any updates.
"We are in regular contact with the farming industry representatives and will continue to update them on how our response to Covid-19 affects them."
More widely, major industry events have been cancelled in the wake of the virus spread, which has been classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organisation.
One of the events cancelled was the conference of the International Egg Commission that was due to take place in The Hague in the Netherlands in April.
"Due to the ongoing outbreak of Covid-19, the IEC Executive Board has made the difficult decision to postpone the 2020 IEC Business Conference in The Hague. The conference will now take place on 11 – 13 April 2021," said the IEC.
The IEC conferences are designed to bring people together from around the world to share information and develop relationships for the benefit of the global egg industry.
IEC added: "The health and welfare of IEC delegates during these events has always been the IEC’s top priority, and with the rapidly evolving global situation, along with the WHO’s decision to upgrade the global risk status to ‘very high’, it is with regret that the IEC has deemed postponement to be the only option at this stage in the planning process."
"All delegates that have secured a conference place should have received an email explaining their reimbursement options. If you have not yet received this email, please contact the IEC events team."
The Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE) also announced the cancellation of the Pig and Poultry Fair, which last took place two years ago.
"The RASE trustees made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 Pig & Poultry Fair event, following Government advice indicating that gatherings should not take place," it said in a public statement.
"Whilst we are sorry to have to make this announcement to cancel, we believe it is the right decision, to protect the health of the industry and indeed the wider population, in these unprecedented circumstances."
It said future plans for the event would be announced in due course.
