Italy culled 4 million birds due to bird flu

Four million birds on Italian commercial farms have been culled in the past few days due to multiple bird flu outbreaks reported in the country. Official sources from the Venice Animal Prevention Institute have confirmed that many of the culled birds are broilers on large commercial farms hit by bird flu last week. Recently, many other European countries such as France, the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Hungary, Poland and Bulgaria have reported similar outbreaks in poultry farms.

In Bulgaria, 80,000 birds were culled from an industrial farm in the southern village of Tsalapitsa over the weekend following the outbreak, according to the food safety agency. According to the agency, the farm was affected by highly pathogenic avian influenza type A.

In Hungary, 5,000 turkeys at a farm in Békés County were culled last week due to an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza virus.

Three weeks ago, due to an outbreak of bird flu in the southern region of Bacs-Kishkun, more than 38,000 ducks were killed on one farm, and about 500 geese on the second.

France also confirmed the presence of the virus last week at a poultry farm near the Belgian border. All birds on the affected farm in the northwestern town of Warham were culled and a 10-kilometer surveillance perimeter was set up to prohibit any movement of poultry in the area.

Part of the restricted area is in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The Belgian Federal Agency for Food Chain Safety today took additional measures for the cities of De Panne, Verne, Alveringem and Popering. Poultry farmers and private owners are required to keep birds in cages, and bird shows and fairs are prohibited.

UK authorities have also reported 5 outbreaks on commercial farms and poultry farmers across the kingdom have been ordered to move their flocks inside to prevent the spread of the virus. Irish authorities have reported three outbreaks in the past 30 days. More than 25 outbreaks were reported by Polish authorities in November, and the industry could face another bad season due to restrictions imposed by countries outside the EU. Poland is also the largest producer of poultry meat in the EU with a market share of 19%.