Over the past year, bird flu has had a huge impact on the market, both for eggs and live birds, with the epidemic season being the worst ever recorded. This was commented by the executive director of the Union of Poultry Breeders in Bulgaria, Dr. Petya Petkova, for Iskra.bg. We recall that in the previous two parts, in an interview with our editors, she explained that she saw no reason for the increase in the price of eggs for Easter, and that the import of poultry products from third countries poses risks.
In connection with bird flu, Dr. Petkova stated that even in the summer of 2022 there was no reduction in cases, on the contrary, the virus has become quite resistant.
„In Europe alone, almost 50 million birds were destroyed in 2022. A large part of them were in breeding flocks, which accordingly makes it quite difficult to restore production at the moment. So that had its impact. In our country, about 750,000 poultry were destroyed in 2022.“
The Union of Poultry Breeders in Bulgaria hopes that the disease will not have a negative effect this year as well, because at the moment there is a slight calming down and a decrease in cases. According to Dr. Petkova, there should be constant surveillance and biosecurity measures – „at least until the use of a vaccine is allowed, because anyway this is at an advanced stage of discussion and as experiments at the European Union level“.
At the moment, tests of the vaccine are being carried out in 4 countries – both on waterfowl and on chickens and birds, Dr. Petkova revealed.
„A week ago, new legislation came into force, which allowed the use of such vaccines in birds, but an opinion of the European Food Safety Authority must be issued, the parameters to which the national strategies should comply, what supervision should be carried out , in order to really guarantee the free trade of both live birds and the products obtained from them,“ added the expert.
The opinion is expected in July. Dr. Petkova hopes that in the fall season, poultry farmers will have the opportunity to use the vaccine.
