Pressure is mounting on the South African government to allow poultry imports from parts of Brazil that are not affected by bird flu.
Brazil supplies 80% of South Africa’s poultry imports, and all imports have been banned after a bird flu outbreak at a poultry facility in Brazil’s southernmost province, Rio Grande do Sul. The reason for the nationwide ban is that Brazil has no compartmentalisation agreement with South Africa that would restrict the ban to the area affected.
That application must come from Brazil, but whether that happened in recent talks is not clear. Dr Mpho Maja, director of animal health in South Africa’s agriculture department, told the Sunday Times that one meeting had been held and others may follow.
She said the government’s response to the Brazilian outbreak was informed by a need to protect local birds and consumers in line with the World Organisation for Animal Health’s standards.
“We accept all measures that are internationally recognised — zoning, regionalisation and compartments, provided that they comply with the requirements of the World Organisation for Animal Health. We are having conversations with everyone on these requirements, and that includes Brazil.”
Poultry producers, who supply 80% of South Africa’s chicken needs, have said production increases will ensure there is no shortage of chicken meat following the Brazil ban. That assurance does not cover mechanically deboned meat (MDM), a paste used in the production of processed meats such as polony. MDM is not produced in large quantities locally, and most imports come from Brazil.
Chicken importers face a huge loss of income, and are clamouring for compartmentalisation. They predict shortages of MDM and offal products such as chicken heads, feet and livers, with resultant price increases.
Imamaleng Mothebe, CEO of the Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) pointed out that many countries are continuing to import poultry from Brazil because of compartmentalisation agreements.
Namibia was among the countries restricting the ban to the Rio Grande do Sul province. Others had agreed to ban much smaller areas such as the local Montenegro municipality or to a 10 km radius around the affected chicken hatchery, she said in an article in Business Day.
This is the first bird flu outbreak in Brazil, which is the world’s largest poultry producer. Whether the disease spreads to other facilities and other provinces, as it has in countries around the world, remains to be seen.
