Poultry disease at egg farm not a food safety concern, says SFA

Seng Choon Farm, one of Singapore's three largest egg farms, has seen an outbreak of Newcastle disease, a viral disease among poultry that can cause a temporary drop in egg production.

As a result, there will be some supply disruption from the farm in coming weeks, said the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) in response to queries from The Straits Times yesterday.

But SFA stressed that the disease is not a food safety concern.

"There are no known instances of transmission to humans through handling or consumption of poultry products, and eggs from Seng Choon can continue to be sold," the agency said.

Seng Choon Farm managing director Koh Yeow Koon said the first signs of the disease appeared last week, when there was a dip in egg production.

Laboratory test results from the Animal & Veterinary Service (AVS) confirmed Newcastle disease, which affects birds' respiratory, nervous and digestive systems.

The disease, which is endemic in the region, has resulted in a 40 per cent to 50 per cent drop in egg production, said Mr Koh. The farm typically produces about 600,000 eggs daily, contributing some 10 per cent of Singapore's supply.

Mr Koh said the farm will do more frequent cleaning to prevent the disease from spreading, and relook the vaccination programme for its chickens.

He said egg supply is expected to recover in one to two months.

Both SFA and AVS have been working closely with Seng Choon to manage the disease situation.

SFA said it has been engaging the other two egg farms that supply the local market - Chew's Agriculture and N&N Agriculture - to step up their biosecurity measures.

About 70 per cent of Singapore's hen shell egg supply is imported from countries such as Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, Spain and Poland, said SFA.

"In view of the Seng Choon situation, SFA has been in contact with egg importers, some of whom are actively responding to release more stocks from their buffer into the market and to ramp up imports," added the agency.

A spokesman for FairPrice said higher feed prices, logistics costs and manpower shortages have impacted the prices of eggs, but that the supermarket chain has maintained an overall price increase of about 10 per cent.

More than 55 per cent of eggs sold at FairPrice are sourced from local farms, but it also carries eggs from other sources, including Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Poland, Ukraine, Spain and Thailand.

Similarly, DFI Retail Group, which runs Cold Storage and Giant supermarkets, said: "While we are always concerned with regard to any issues impacting our supplier partners, we have had for a long time now a diversified supplier strategy and are working closely with our other supplier partners to ensure our volume is not significantly impacted."

The outbreak at Seng Choon is just one of many factors affecting egg prices, said Mr Sng Kaijun, director of egg importer Dasoon.

Prices of eggs have risen by about 30 per cent since late last year, he said.

Other factors include the rising cost of logistics, manpower and raw materials like chicken feed.

A spokesman for Chew's Agriculture said the Seng Choon outbreak is not the main factor driving up prices, adding that production costs have gone up by about 50 per cent over the past two years.

"We have been absorbing quite a bit of our production costs. But they have risen to a point where we can't keep doing so," he said.

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis may also affect supply as Singapore imports eggs from Ukraine.

Meanwhile, SFA said that as a general safety practice, consumers should always cook poultry and poultry products thoroughly.

Consumers can also consider alternatives such as liquid, powdered or pre-prepared eggs.