World meat industry news

Russia and Kazakhstan have been already hit by an influenza wave due do wild birds migration route to Europe.

In the last couple of weeks, Russia and Kazakhstan have been confronted with several outbreaks of bird flu in both wild and domestic birds as the autumn migration in wild birds is crossing their territories. EU officials have warned poultry producers to step up surveillance against possible outbreaks of avian flu among wild and domestic birds. "EU countries are being urged to step up surveillance and biosafety measures to protect themselves against possible new outbreaks of bird flu this year," a report issued this week said. The disease is highly contagious to birds, but the risks of transmission to humans are considered low. However, in the past cases of transmission from infected birds to humans have occurred. "However, to minimize the risk of transmission to humans, people are advised not to touch dead birds without wearing adequate personal protective equipment," said the same report.

The last outbreaks of avian flu were reported in January by Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Germany. Due to this situation, poultry products from these countries have been banned in some external market for more than 6 months. At the beginning of September, Poland, the largest producer of poultry in the EU has regained access to Singapore.