Another outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu was confirmed on Wednesday at a commercial turkey flock in Co Meath, the Department of Agriculture has said.
The development followed the imposition of local emergency restriction measures around a turkey flock in Co Carlow on Tuesday.
Minister for Agriculture Martin Heydon said the second such outbreak of the disease at a commercial turkey facility this week “underlines the ongoing presence of avian influenza in wild birds across the country."
Restriction zones have been established around the affected holdings, comprising a 3km protection zone and a 10km surveillance zone.
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Earlier on Wednesday, the Minister announced a compulsory housing order for all poultry and captive birds as part of measures to minimise the risk of bird flu spreading.
Mr Heydon said the action, which takes force from next Monday, will “reduce the threat to our industry and to our poultry farmers’ livelihoods”. Poultry and captive birds must, from November 10th, be housed or confined, he said.
The Department of Agriculture’s chief veterinary officer said there is no concern about stocks of turkey for Christmas following the Co Carlow outbreak.
Dr June Fanning said the strain of bird flu circulating is “low risk” to humans.
“However, the advice still is that if people come across sick or dead wild birds, or if they’ve poultry themselves that are sick, not to touch or interact with the birds because there is that human health risk, however low,” she told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland on Wednesday.
“Unfortunately for birds, it’s a highly pathogenic strain. It’s very contagious, so it spreads very easily between birds and it also causes severe signs, including death, in the birds.”
Speaking before the housing order was announced at midday on Wednesday, Dr Fanning said housing poultry as an isolated measure “is not protective, so we’re working very closely with the industry and it’s an evolving situation”.
“Housing alone won’t protect the birds because obviously the virus can be walked in on dirty footwear into a house,” she added. “However, it is an additional measure, so we are looking at all mitigants at the moment, so we wouldn’t rule anything out at this stage.”
Dr Fanning said the current outbreak is “quite small” and there is no concern about stocks of turkeys for Christmas.
“But it’s contagious and it’s here,” she said. “We’ve had experience previously – 2022 was the last time we had commercial outbreaks. Industry have been really good at working with us in relation to biosecurity. It is highly contagious, so it is a threat, but we have measures in place.”
Mr Heydon said the avian influenza H5N1 disease “poses no food-safety risk to consumers of well-cooked poultry products, including eggs”.
“This outbreak is a reminder to us all of the importance of robust biosecurity,” he said. “This is why I announced a biosecurity order that took effect last Saturday. Strict biosecurity is the best defence we have against the threat of avian influenza.”
[ Fota Wildlife Park cases confirm bird flu remains a big threatOpens in new window ]
If needed, free-range and organic poultry flocks can be housed to protect them against avian influenza. Specific EU regulations lay down detailed rules regarding marketing standards for eggs and poultry meat.
These regulations set down minimum requirements that must be met in order to use the term “free range”, including rules around access to the range, according to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland.
Free-range eggs may continue to be marketed as “free range” for the duration of a compulsory restriction imposed to protect public and animal health.
In the case of meat from free-range poultry, marketing standards regulations permit it to be marketed as “free range” if the birds are restricted from open-air runs for less than 12 weeks.
EU regulations allow for organic poultry and eggs to be marketed as “organic” while under temporary indoor confinement, imposed to protect public and animal health, if steps are taken to facilitate their natural behaviours and all other provisions for organic production are met in full.
The strain of bird flu has been confirmed in a number of wild birds across the country, with more than 40 cases so far this year, the department has said.
On Tuesday, Fota Wildlife Park in Cork, which has been closed following detection of the virus there, said it would remain closed until the end of the month. It faces financial losses running into hundreds of thousands of euro.
Aileen Tennant, Fota director, confirmed the park would probably remain closed for at least three weeks to deal with the outbreak.
Ms Tennant said Fota had consulted with the Department of Agriculture and embarked upon a series of targeted mitigation measures to prevent spread.
She confirmed that 12 cases of avian flu had been confirmed among the park’s bird population since the outbreak was first detected on October 13th. It was found among the park’s greylag geese.
