Brazilian poultry producers unfazed by bird flu outbreak

Nearly two weeks into a 180-day health emergency declared by Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry, the country has confirmed 19 cases of avian influenza (also known as bird flu) in wild birds in the southeastern states of Rio de Janeiro, Minas Gerais, and Espírito Santo, and in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil’s southernmost state.

The H5N1 virus continues to decimate bird populations around the world by spreading rapidly from flock to flock, but so far Brazil has escaped what is already the largest global bird flu outbreak in history. Several countries have seen their poultry exports affected, and an estimated 500 million infected birds have been sacrificed.

Despite the devastating impact of the outbreak worldwide, producers in Brazil — the world’s largest poultry exporter — remain unfazed. The Brazilian animal protein association ABPA maintains that there is currently no risk of an outbreak in commercial poultry farms. The association has also pointed to a return to normalcy in the U.S. market, despite the disease’s persistence in the country.

“The most important thing right now is to maintain the biosecurity of production units at the highest levels, as we have already done and as we have reinforced since the beginning of the international [bird flu] crisis, which started in mid-2021,” ABPA President Ricardo Santin tells The Brazilian Report....