Collaboration needed to prevent future avian Flu outbreaks in South Africa

A Fairplay webinar held recently noted that the Government and the poultry industry needed to work together to avoid a repeat of the Avian Flu outbreak back in 2023.

A Fairplay webinar held recently noted that the government and the poultry industry needed to work together to avoid a repeat of the Avian Flu outbreak back in 2023.

The webinar included FairPlay founder Francois Baird, Izaak Breitenbach of the SA Poultry Association ,Obed Lukhele, a vaccination expert from Astral Foods and John Fourie Jnr from poultry producer Chubby Chicks.

The panelists agreed that South Africa needed to avoid a repetition of the 2023 bird flu outbreaks which devastated the poultry industry, and that government and poultry producers had to work together to achieve this.

Breitenbach said that although the poultry industry was not facing the “burning fires” of the foot and mouth disease crisis for cattle farmers, the bird flu issue was serious and required immediate attention.