Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) assures the public that poultry and poultry products in Singapore are free from H5N1 avian flu (bird flu), thus safe for consumption.
The announcement came after Malaysia’s Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) has reported an outbreak of the bird flu in a village of Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
The Authority stressed that current outbreak in Kelantan does not have any impact on Singapore’s poultry and egg supply as Singapore only allows import of poultry and eggs from the disease free zones in Malaysia, which are Johor, Malacca, Negri Sembilan, Selangor and Perak.
“We do not import poultry and eggs from Kelantan as it is not an approved source,” AVA said.
AVA noted that it will continue to work closely with Malaysia’s DVS to ensure that poultry and eggs imported do not compromise public and animal health. Measures to keep out bird flu
Nevertheless, in response to the outbreak of bird flu in Kelantan, AVA has stepped up existing measures to prevent the incursion of the disease, including:
- Importing live birds, poultry and poultry products only from bird flu-free countries and zones.
- Conducting inspection and sampling on imported live poultry and poultry products at points of entry and poultry slaughter houses.
- Ensuring that local poultry farms and slaughterhouses implement biosecurity measures.
- Conducting regular inspection and surveillance at local poultry farms, slaughterhouses and pet bird shops.
- Conducting regular checks and surveillance on migratory birds as well as common birds such as crows, mynahs and pigeons.
- Monitoring of free-roaming chickens.
AVA stated that it has increased surveillance and inspections at the points of entry to prevent the incursion of the disease, as well as alerting local poultry farms to beef up biosecurity measures, such as not allowing non-essential visits to the farms and ensuring that their bird-proofing measures are intact.
AVA said that the public can visit our website at www.ava.gov.sg for more information and updates on bird flu.
arrival at Tuas checkpoint (Source : AVA).
arrival at Tuas checkpoint (Source : AVA).