Brazil rules out three of seven suspected bird flu cases
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
The first commercial-farm outbreak was confirmed last week in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul.
PHOTO: AFP
Follow topic:
SAO PAULO – Brazil, the world’s largest chicken exporter, has ruled out three of seven suspected cases of highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly known as bird flu, officials said at press conference on May 19, citing laboratory test results.
The government had been investigating seven cases after the first outbreak was confirmed on a commercial farm in Brazi
Two of the cases still under investigation concern poultry raised on commercial farms and five involved backyard flocks in Brazil, which sold some US$10 billion (S$13 billion) worth of chicken products globally in 2024, supplying more than five million tonnes.
All three negative tests related to samples taken from subsistence, non-commercial farms, officials said.
Under existing protocols signed between Brazil and trade partners including China, the European Union and South Korea, nationwide bans apply to poultry imports in case of a bird flu outbreak on a commercial farm.
Protocols with buyers Japan, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia provide for local trade restrictions.
Officials told reporters that the United States said it would continue buying eggs from Brazil.
The US boosted Brazilian egg imports after domestic prices hit a record high due to US bird flu outbreaks.
One of the cases still under investigation was at a commercial farm in the state of Tocantins and the other at a commercial farm in Santa Catarina, according to the officials.
The first commercial-farm outbreak was confirmed last week in Brazil’s southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul.
“People are on high alert,” Agriculture Minister Carlos Favaro told TV reporters outside his ministry on May 19, referring to the cases under investigation.
“Farmers, whether on commercial or subsistence farms, report it when they see a sick animal and it’s good that it is that way.”
Brazil would be considered free of bird flu if no new cases of the disease are confirmed in a 28-day window after the initial outbreak, Mr Favaro said.
That would not mean exports would be restored immediately but Brazil would be in a position to negotiate with buyers to relax restrictions triggered by exiting health protocols.
Brazil’s chicken exports account for more than 35 per cent of the global trade, making regional or nationwide trade embargoes painful not just for Brazilian farmers but also for major importers.
China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are among the main destinations for Brazil’s chicken exports.
In addition to May 16’s confirmation of an outbreak of bird flu on a commercial farm in Montenegro municipality, in Rio Grande do Sul, the authorities confirmed a case in a black-necked swan in the town of Sapucaia do Sul, about 50km from Montenegro. REUTERS
