It may seem excessive, but the Canadian Food Inspection Agency sometimes needs to quarantine farms even if disease hasn’t been detected, says a CFIA spokesperson.
Last fall, the CFIA quarantined several turkey farms in southern Manitoba because they had contact with a turkey breeding operation north of Winnipeg where birds tested positive for a low pathogenic strain of H5N2 avian flu.
Testing proved that turkeys on the quarantined farms didn’t have avian flu, and Manitoba Turkey Producers chair Bill Uruski said the quarantine was too extreme of a response.
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“There needs to be a look at how we deal with farms of interest (following an outbreak),” he said.
“(Maybe) find a way of testing without having to quarantine…. (Don’t) quarantine until any positive reactors are found. That’s the one thing, in our minds, that has come out of this.”
However, Jag Dhanda, a CFIA disease control specialist in Saskatoon, said placing a quarantine on suspected farms is a necessary protocol.
“As per the international standards, and for our trading partners, we need to assure them that we take all the precautions and all the disease control actions that we are supposed to take.”
Dhanda said the CFIA’s next action in this case will be a post-outbreak surveillance program. CFIA employees will test birds at poultry farms across Canada.
“We need to go and do surveillance throughout the poultry industry, take samples and prove that this disease did not spread,” Dhanda said. “This will take place now for three months, after the (clean and disinfect) is done.”
CFIA employees are also working on a final report to determine what happened at the turkey farm north of Winnipeg.
Although he didn’t reveal the contents of the report, Dhanda said it’s likely wild birds entered the barn and infected turkeys at the farm.
Biosecurity in Canada’s poultry industry is excellent, he added, but mistakes can happen.
“It’s not that the industry is not following the biosecurity (protocols),” he said. “The biosecurity in poultry is top notch. But sometimes there can be slips.”
He said the final report is nearly complete, and the agency will post a summary on its website in the near future.
