The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has established primary control zones in Alberta and southern Saskatchewan
The fallout on Canada’s poultry industry from this year’s avian influenza outbreak continues to grow.
So far, 600,000 domestic birds and 18 farms in Alberta have been affected by the highly contagious and deadly virus.
The virus is also hitting other provinces with Saskatchewan reporting six farms affected representing 140,000 birds, British Columbia seeing 50,000 domestic birds impacted while Manitoba reports 15,000 birds affected.
Quebec and Ontario collectively have more than 550,000 birds affected on 24 farms.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has established multiple primary control zones in Alberta to stop the spread between farms primarily in Highway 2 between Calgary and Edmonton.
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Control zones in Saskatchewan have been established in the south running from Maple Creek in the west, Rosetown to the north and Carlyle to the east.
Movement of poultry, byproducts and material that have come into contact with flocks with confirmed cases in those zones are highly restricted.
Despite nearly 1.5 million birds nationally being taken out of the market, Chicken Farmers of Canada spokesperson Lisa Bishop-Spencer said supply of poultry isn’t an issue.
“We don’t anticipate any supply problems,” said Bishop-Spencer. “We’re hoping we can mitigate this effectively.”
The supply-managed industry has yet to initiate provincial quota changes for poultry farmers, although she said that is a discussion that is likely to be broached soon.
But with nine provinces reporting cases of bird flu this year, inter-provincial movement of supply is unlikely due to the widespread nature of this year’s outbreak.
The spring bird migration is largely cited as the culprit for the spread of the avian flu across the continent with most American states also reporting cases in either domestic or wild fowl.
There are also concerns as to how the strain of bird flu will play out over the summer because there is a possibility of a resurgence during the fall migration of wild fowl.
“We have to learn if the biosecurity measures we have in place are generally effective because it’s not like it’s spreading from farm to farm,” said Bishop-Spencer. “CFIA has indicated there has been very little, if any, lateral spread. There is nothing that we are doing that is spreading it.”
She said consumption of chicken products by the public has not been adversely affected while food safety continues to be a priority.
According to the U.S. Centre for Disease Control, a Colorado man tested positive for the same avian influenza strain affecting birds.
“This case occurred in a person who had direct exposure to poultry and was involved in the culling of poultry with presumptive H5N1 bird flu,” read the statement.
The CDC maintains that risks to the public are minimal.
So far this year in the United States, more than 36 million birds across 32 states have been impacted by avian influenza.
