First modification:
Chile had to stop the export of poultry and take internal restrictions to try to contain the flu in wild animals. Fear of the disease has spread among citizens, while they look for other alternatives to replace the consumption of eggs, an important item in the family basket.
Chile has buried more than a million birds, of which 700,000 were egg-laying birds, according to reports from the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG), a panorama that has been the thousands of cases of H5N1 flu that the country began reporting in wild animals since the end of 2022.
The massive death of these specimens has generated a domino effect in various economic scenarios, as local farms face difficulties in selling the chickens and their eggs.
“Indeed, the price of eggs has grown by 35% in the last year and the price of corn has been key to that, which was at $180-$200 in 2022 and reached $350 (Chilean pesos). That caused some egg companies to go bankrupt,” the Minister of Agriculture, Esteban Valenzuela, said at a press conference.
Along with the reports on how the contagion is going, the Chilean authorities invited the general public to be “part of the solution”, reporting cases of sick animals and not spreading fear of the consumption of their derivative products.
Considering the contingency, SAG also displayed interactive tools on its portal to see how the situation is progressing and service channels for bird owners.
Attention farmers and farmers ? ?? ?
If you are the owner of birds, you must obtain your Unique Livestock Rol (RUP) in @sagchileso that all owners of farm birds can make their declaration of animal existence.
Find out more at https://t.co/B2xiM9e5hk pic.twitter.com/9NZPDP2N9R
— Ministry of Agriculture of Chile ?? (@MinagriCL) April 24, 2023
“We have been working throughout the territory, there is a campaign that seeks to raise awareness among the population and we must thank the people who have denounced in a timely manner for what we have managed to detect the outbreaks in a timely manner, preventing the number of compromised schools from being more” , explained the national head of the avian influenza control campaign of the Agricultural and Livestock Service, SAG, Juan Carlos Torres.
The official affirmed that “the consumption of eggs is safe” and that the supply of the same will be slush. According to official data, only 5% of the population capable of producing eggs has been affected, but fear among citizens is spreading because despite the fact that there are no records of human-to-human contagion, the virus can pass from birds or marine mammals to humans.
“I am consuming less eggs, so we are seeing what will happen with all that. Also less chicken meat, I don’t know how that is going to be. I have also avoided buying it because it scares me, I have grandchildren and it is terrible if something happens to you,” Judith Vargas, a citizen of Santiago, told Reuters news agency.
Chile and Argentina are the two of the three large Latin American countries that have experienced a strong outbreak of this influenza and that has affected not only birds but also other animals such as marine mammals; while Brazil, the largest exporter of poultry, is still free of the contagion.
With Reuters and local media
