13 June 2023
by Carien Kruger
Thanks to a system of compartments, poultry producers on whose farms bird flu does not occur can continue their exports to neighbouring countries, despite the latest outbreak of bird flu.
At the recent AVI Africa Poultry at Kempton Park, Dr Mpho Maja, Director of Animal Health at the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development said only Namibia does not accept South Africa’s compartment system.
Other neighbouring countries to which poultry producers export their products do (after the necessary negotiations) accept South Africa’s compartment. If a given producer does not have bird flu outbreaks or is not situated near any such outbreaks, they can continue to export their products.
Izaak Breitenbach, General Manager of the Broiler Organisation at the South African Poultry Association, said that a compartment is usually a company or processing plant that is certified as bird flu negative.
A company then receives so-called ZA numbers for exporting from a specific farm and plant. Operations here are constantly monitored for bird flu by a private veterinarian. In some cases, the state veterinarian who certifies the process delegates his powers to a private veterinarian.
If bird flu is reported within a compartment, the ZA numbers expire and the company can then no longer export. When the company meets the requirements again, it gets another ZA number and can export again.
Compartments negotiated with neighbouring countries
Izaak says that when the first outbreaks of bird flu occurred in 2017, the compartment system was not ready yet but that it was negotiated with neighbouring countries in the meantime. A neighbouring country sets their requirements and as long as it is met, exports can continue.
The ability to export does, however, depend on the location of a bird flu outbreak. A poultry producer can, for example, have three different compartments. If one compartment is close to an outbreak, it could mean that export from there must be stopped, but export from other compartments far from the outbreak can continue.
If a nearby farm has an outbreak of bird flu, a producer can lose his export approval for a year if the chickens in question are not culled. If the chickens in question have been culled and the carcasses disposed of in the required manner, the suspension of export applies for three months.
Residue program
For South Africa to be able to export poultry to the European Union, it must meet requirements regarding virus diseases as well as residues of substances in the meat. The latter mainly concerns residues of antibiotics, growth stimulants and heavy metals.
“We are negotiating to only export cooked meat,” says Izaak. “We will negotiate for compartments, which can be companies or parts of companies. The part in question does not have to meet requirements regarding viruses because the meat is cooked, but it must meet the requirements regarding residues.”
The exporter must set up a residue program. This includes a spreadsheet of all the products that are used in South Africa, a list of all the products that are used in chicken, and a list of products that are not used in chicken.
The residue program then involves taking samples to test for residues in all the categories.
Before export can begin, the residue program must be followed for a full year. The samples are tested in South African laboratories but there are certain tests for which samples must be sent to the Fera laboratory in Britain. The ostrich industry already sends samples to this laboratory.
Despite the cost, Izaak says the good prices that producers in Europe can get for poultry make it worth it, especially because local consumers are under so much pressure that prices can hardly be increased.
