Ministry of Agriculture and Lands
Message from John van Dongen
Minister of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries
April 27, 2004
CONTENTS
- General
- Eradication Strategy
- Disposal Options
- Landfill Concerns
- Transportation
- Economic Impacts
- Trade Restrictions
- Bio-security
- Specialty Flocks
- Organic Producers
- Wild Bird Surveillance
- Poultry Farm Standards
1. GENERAL
Poultry in our stores is safe to buy and eat.
There is no significant threat to human health.
This disease is a threat to poultry flocks, and that's why we have to eradicate it from the Lower Mainland.
Thousands of families will feel the economic impact from the temporary shutdown of poultry farming and processing.
We're working with the industry and the federal government to find every possible way to cushion that impact.
Co-operation with the federal government – both on disease control and on economic measures – has been excellent.
And it is extremely encouraging that shipments of poultry products from the lower mainland and Fraser Valley can begin again.
I urge everyone to become familiar with and follow on-farm biosecurity measures.
I continue to stress that Canada has some of the best systems to handle a situation like this. Our food system is safe and our surveillance system is working.
The disease has been found on 30 out of 600 farms in the area. No birds from those farms have entered the food supply. All poultry within the high risk region been slaughtered as a preventive measure.
We have been in discussions with officials from the Netherlands who went through a similar situation with Avian Influenza to learn from their experience.
We are using the information from those international officials to ensure we are using the very best practices in the culling, disinfection and disposal operations as we eradicate this outbreak.
2. ERADICATION STRATEGY
Early In April the industry recommended a total depopulation of virtually all poultry in the control area – consisting of the Fraser Valley and Greater Vancouver – and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) agreed.
This is the fastest and most effective way of being sure that the disease has been eradicated throughout the area.
Birds that are now being raised for food may be processed for sale if their flocks test healthy. Poultry products from healthy flocks can now be shipped anywhere in Canada for direct retail or restaurant sale.
At this point it could take 8 weeks to depopulate the area, and at least three more weeks before the region can be declared disease-free.
Once that happens, it would be another 11 weeks before birds and eggs started to become available for processing.
In all, it would take a year before the industry was back to normal production levels.
3. DISPOSAL OPTIONS
All birds in the original High Risk Region have now been depopulated by the CFIA. Other flocks are being euthanized as infection is found. Disposal of the carcasses continues.
Public health is the primary concern in choosing disposal options.
This virus is very vulnerable to heat. It is destroyed quickly at relatively low temperatures – much lower than the temperature of boiling water.
We're working with our municipal colleagues and technical advisors to find the best ways to dispose of bird carcasses.
Destroying the virus through biological heat treatment of the infected carcasses in their barns or in a central composting facility is the preferred option. Composting raises the temperature high enough to kill the virus. Most carcasses are being destroyed in this way.
Incineration is the next choice, but facilities are limited and will not be able to handle the entire load. Most incineration has been done at the Similco Mine near Princeton. We are continuing to explore other possible incineration sites.
Landfills will be used as necessary. CFIA is working with the Ministry of Water, Land and Air Protection, with medical health officers, regional districts and other local authorities to develop protocols for the safe collection, transportation and disposal of carcasses. The health and safety of workers and the general public are paramount concerns in this work.
I thank our municipal partners like Chilliwack who have stepped up to the plate to help deal with this ongoing crisis and ensure the best disposal options are available.
As of Thursday, April 15, almost 600,000 birds from infected flocks have already been disposed of.
240,000 of those have been composted on the farms involved; 350,000 more have been incinerated at Princeton or land-filled at Chilliwack.
At this time, we expect another 280,000 more birds will have to be slaughtered for disposal – 230,000 can be composted on farms, and approximately 140,000 will have to be incinerated or land-filled.
4. LANDFILL CONCERNS
This is an emergency situation across the province — and requires a province-wide response like we saw with the forest fires last summer.
CFIA is continuing the difficult task of eradication of the Avian Influenza.
We need to dispose of those carcasses.
The options have always been:
1) on-farm, heat treatment composting;
2) incineration and
3) landfilling.
That has not changed. The options remain open.
The majority of the birds are disposed of on farm. We are already incinerating near Princeton and will be shortly at Abbotsford.
You must understand that the situation changes rapidly — when infected flocks are found, they need to be depopulated as quickly as possible.
How fast that happens affects what methods we can use to dispose of the carcasses. Can that farm be used? If not, is the incinerator able to take them? If not, we need to landfill.
It's a constantly changing, always urgent situation that requires everyone to constantly update the disposal plans.
For instance, on Good Friday last week, it looked like we might need access to the Cache Creek landfill to deal with an overload of disposal capacity.
I can assure the people of Cache Creek and Princeton and Burnaby and Chilliwack — we are not trying to "ship our problems somewhere else."
I am a farmer. I don't want avian influenza in the Interior. Nor do I want a bunch of rotting carcasses lying in the Fraser Valley because of internal squabbling.
This is not a time to be playing politics – I understand there are concerns among the public and I don't dismiss them.
I have spoken with the mayors of all communities.
I know staff have been providing extensive information to local governments, including Cache Creek, and we are committed to continuing to do so.
As we have said all along, we will send staff from all agencies to speak with any communities — that planning is underway for Cache Creek.
Extensive discussions continue to ensure all aspects are covered off to address health and safety issues at all stages.
Why did we issue the Ministerial Order then if we aren't ready to send birds to Cache Creek? Simply so that we can use that disposal option when and if we need to.
The bald fact is there is not enough capacity to just treat on farm, or just incinerate.
5. TRANSPORTATION
Extensive safety protocols are in place and monitored by the CFIA for transporting carcasses and manure from infected farms.
These involve double wrapping the load in plastic, spraying the load with disinfectant and having an inspector follow the transport route with spill-kits to ensure there's no leakage.
Anyone seeing any practices that concern them should call the CFIA immediately.
6. ECONOMIC IMPACTS
I want to stress that there is no danger to the public from buying or eating poultry products in stores.
We are working closely with our federal partners to contain this disease.
We also need co-operation to cushion the economic impact on producers, processors and others who are affected.
I know that this is hurting farmers, farm workers and now processors, and their workers and families.
The Ministry of Health, the regional health authorities and emergency services organizations are offering counseling and other social supports for families who are being hurt by this.
The farmers whose birds are being destroyed are being compensated at market value by the CFIA.
The issue is reaching far beyond the farms, so it is extremely encouraging that shipments of poultry products from the lower mainland and Fraser Valley can begin again.
We are working on addressing the stresses being put on those who work in the processing industry.
Processing plants are laying off workers. Wage losses for processing plant employees are already more than $60,000 a day.
The costs are substantial and rising every day. As many as 5,000 farm and processing employees and their families could be impacted in what amounts to a billion dollar industry.
Producers in other parts of the province are also affected – either because they can't get their birds to processing plants, or because they can't get new stocks of birds to maintain their operations.
7. IMPACT TO THE ECONOMY DUE TO TRADE RESTRICTIONS
A trade ban by major trading partners is something you expect in a situation like this.
We have to accept it, and work to getting it lifted as soon as possible.
So far, 43 countries have enacted partial or full bans on our poultry.
With the approach we are taking to stamping out the disease, we can hope that the ban will be lifted by the time the industry is back up to export volumes.
Exports of BC poultry and poultry products are about $22.5 million a year, over half of which is shipped to the United States.
8. BIOSECURITY REQUIREMENTS
As far as we know, some of the spread of this disease happened because people inadvertently carried the virus from one farm to another.
CFIA's new biosecurity rules address this threat.
Farmers, farm workers and visitors must wear clean protective clothing and footwear, and disinfect themselves after leaving a barn. Equipment, including trucks, must also be disinfected.
These are the kinds of measures we must take to stop the spread of the disease, and prevent a recurrence of this kind of problem in the future.
We will continue to work with CFIA and Industry to undertake all necessary measures.
9. SPECIALTY FLOCKS
I understand there are some small flocks of exotic and heritage strains of birds in the area.
Our primary goal is to eliminate avian flu. If CFIA says those flocks must be destroyed, that is what will have to happen.
If there are ways those flocks can be saved safely, or their genetic stock preserved, we will try to make that possible.
The CFIA will assess, on a case-by-case basis, situations such as exotic birds, pets, or birds in zoos.
We understand that depopulation will be difficult for all affected bird owners, particularly those with smaller flocks, some of which are kept as pets.
Unfortunately, avian influenza is an indiscriminate and unrelenting virus. All birds in captivity are susceptible and all pose a risk of spreading the disease. Our actions must be as sweeping as possible.
Pet birds kept indoors will likely not be affected.
10. ORGANIC PRODUCERS
I know that organic farmers are concerned about their flocks and how to protect them from this kind of infection.
We don't know enough yet about the long-term risk factors to know what will be necessary.
At the same time that we're stopping this outbreak, we're doing the research that will tell us how and why it happened.
11. WILD BIRD SURVEILLANCE
Health Canada is in discussions with national wild bird experts to develop plans for avian influenza surveillance in wild bird populations.
In the coming weeks we expect to learn more about how this disease first broke out in our province, and what risk is represented by wild birds.
12. POULTRY FARM STANDARDS
British Columbia has had a healthy, sustainable and diverse poultry industry for many years
Standards at our poultry farms are among the best in the world
The federal and provincial governments, municipalities and regions, poultry producers and processors, are all working together to resolve this problem
We're working to safeguard the interests of consumers and protect the livelihood of employees and their families
The decisions being made to deal with this problem – from depopulation to restocking – are based on the best scientific and veterinarian advice
