Avian influenza (bird flu): Fresh poultry meat originating from a Protection Zone and product withdrawal in cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza
Following discussions with the retail industry and other key stakeholders Defra has outlined policy on the sale of fresh poultry meat originating from a Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Protection Zone and the product withdrawal of meat and eggs originating from an Infected Premises. These measures would only be applied in cases of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in domestic poultry and would not be applied in cases of Low Pathogenic Avian Influenza.
These measures would be taken entirely for animal health reasons. There is a small risk that meat re-entering the animal food chain could lead to further infections in animals. The measures are highly precautionary and are to ensure that product originating from a Protection Zone or Infected Premises does not reenter the animal food chain both within the UK and within the European Union.
On the basis of current scientific evidence, the Food Standards Agency advises that avian flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers. This is because for people, the risk of catching the disease is from being in close contact with live poultry that have the disease and not through eating cooked poultry, game or eggs.
Protection Zones
The legislation provides for fresh poultry meat from birds originating in Protection Zones (PZs) to be marketed within the UK but meat can only be exported from the UK if it has undergone a heat treatment process i.e. cooking.
Control to ensure that uncooked UK meat is not illegally exported is provided by a stamp. It is applied to the packaging of fresh poultry meat and products containing uncooked poultry meat which identifies them as originating in a PZ. The stamp will need to be applied at the slaughterhouse and at all stages downstream including the point of UK retail sale or the point at which the meat is received at the cooking plant. Failure to apply the stamp at all stages would negate the controls and make it impossible to obtain assurance that meat had not been exported or inadvertently entered in to the animal feed chain. It is therefore vital that the stamp is applied to retail packaging if the UK is to comply with the measures contained in the EU Avian Influenza Directive, which has been transposed in to English legislation.
Product Withdrawals
The legislation requires that any meat and eggs that left the Infected Premises between the probable date of infection and the introduction of movement controls must, wherever possible, be traced and disposed of under official supervision.
This means that withdrawal and disposal must take place to retail outlet level wherever systems are robust enough to provide the information for the necessary tracing. Once again this is intended to guard against the inadvertent introduction of product in to the animal feed chain.
Defra recognises that the ability to trace and withdraw poultry meat
will vary within the retail sector but where systems are available they
cannot be ignored. It is also worth remembering that the number and scale
of possible withdrawals coupled with the fairly rapid pace with which
product moves down the chain may make such procedures quite limited in
scope. The terms of the Directive are that product should be traced and
disposed of “wherever possible”. Defra would construe this
to mean that retailers are obliged to withdraw only such product as they
are able to directly link to the Infected Premises. Withdrawal does not
apply to the production from other premises on the Protection Zone and
the Directive does not require retailers to undertake precautionary withdrawals
of any product which is not clearly traceable to the Infected Premises.
Defra hopes that retailers should be able to manage such small withdrawals
in a manner which avoids causing consumer alarm. Moreover Defra has clear
legal advice that it would not be complying with EU law if it ruled out
altogether any attempt to trace to the retail stage.
Page last modified:
November 14, 2007