Friday, April 17, 2015

Poultry boards help CFIA control avian flu

The Feather Board Command Centre has been helping the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) keep a lid on avian influenza after an outbreak on a turkey farm near Woodstock two weeks ago.

The command centre at London is staffed by people drawn from the four feather marketing boards – eggs, chicken, turkeys and hatching eggs.

As an example, “the CFIA is now working with Feather Board Command Centre (FBBC) to determine longer term shipping date and supply requirements for birds within the quarantine area which will help the longer term permitting and scheduling process.,” says news posted on the chicken board’s website.

“On Wednesday, April 15, FBCC communicated directly with broker-dealers and hatcheries that they should not ship chicks, pullets and poults to small flock growers within the quarantine area.

“That request was also supported by a recommendation from the CFIA.

“In order to ensure complete compliance of precautionary measures by all elements of the industry, the FBCC is also stepping up its monitoring of the small flock growers in the quarantine area.

“The FBCC liaison team has been instrumental in helping bring all supply chain industry stakeholders and representatives into the official information briefing process.

“This communication outreach has ensured that industry stakeholders from as far away as New Brunswick and British Columbia have been kept up to date with Ontario’s AI issue developments.

“At the industry briefing on Thursday, April 16, and with no new Ontario AI cases identified to date, the CFIA stated that while it is still in the precautionary stage of managing the quarantine area, it would be looking to industry to help design and manage a recovery and stand down process. “