Government moves to ensure eggs and chicken supply for festive season

As the festive season nears, the Department of Agriculture says it is working to ensure that there is no shortage of poultry products in the country.

This as the deadly Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) continues to wreak havoc in the poultry industry, leading to over seven million chickens being culled.

Minister Thoko Didiza says she has decided to allow the import of poultry products into the country amid the outbreak of bird flu.

The disease, which affects both domestic and wild birds and could kill infected poultry, has been detected in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Free State, and also has been found in the Western Cape.

There has been a  shortage of eggs and chicken in supermarkets due to the deadly disease.

“Minister Didiza has decided to allow the importation of table eggs, fertilised eggs and poultry meat to ensure sufficient stocks are available on time for the Christmas holiday season. Since the 1st of September 2023, the department has granted 115 permits for fertilised eggs, 48 permits for egg powder, 2,406 permits for poultry meat, 24 permits for table eggs,” the Agriculture Department’s Reggie Ngcobo told YNews.

Countries such as Namibia and Mozambique have since banned chicken meat and egg imports from South Africa.

Mozambique bans poultry imports from SA; first avian flu case reported in Morrumbenehttps://t.co/K9tIfBqkQW#Mozambique #Moçambique #Mocambique #SouthAfrica #AvianInfluenza #BirdFlu pic.twitter.com/nBBDME13EH

— Club of Mozambique (@clubOmozambique) October 17, 2023

@sa_poultry is sweating over the Avian Flu outbreak currently gripping the republic.

This comes as the Western Cape has now confirmed it’s first case of the highly pathogenic H7 Avian Influenza in George.

Gauteng, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Free Sate have also confirmed cases. pic.twitter.com/lm0XLEKMGI

— The Legal SA (@TheLegalSA) October 19, 2023