Nearly 10 million poultry have been culled during the current Japanese bird flu season

Original title: Nearly 10 million poultry were culled during the current bird flu season in Japan

Xinhua News Agency, Tokyo, January 9 (Reporter Qian Zheng) The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan reported on January 9 that an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza had occurred at a poultry farm in the city of Josato, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. the current avian influenza epidemic season in Japan (usually from autumn and winter to the following spring) the 56th outbreak reported. Japan has culled an estimated 9.98 million poultry this season, a record.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported that the farm raised about 930,000 laying hens. The relevant departments of Ibaraki Prefecture received a report from the farm on the 8th that the number of dead chickens had increased and they immediately conducted an on-site investigation. On the same day, the result of a simplified test for bird flu on dead chickens was positive. On the 9th, the results of genetic tests on dead chickens showed that these chickens were infected with the highly pathogenic avian influenza virus.

A farm in Okayama Prefecture reported the first bird flu outbreak in Japan this bird flu season at the end of October 2022. A total of 56 outbreaks have been confirmed across the country so far, the highest number in the same period in the history. The farm where the outbreak occurred this time began culling its chickens, bringing the number of poultry culled due to highly pathogenic avian influenza this outbreak season to approximately 9.98 million, surpassing approximately 9 87 million of the 2020-2021 epidemic season, a record high.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries reported that under the current circumstances, the possibility of Japanese consumers getting sick from eating bird flu-infected chicken or eggs is very low.

The Cabinet Food Safety Committee has explained that meat and eggs from poultry suspected of being infected with bird flu will not be distributed on the market; the bird flu virus can’t stand the heat and the risk of infection can be avoided completely by reheating food before eating it.