Poultry Association sounds food warning amid bird flu outbreak
The South African Poultry Association has signalled a food warning over the country's bird flu outbreak.
Officials from the Department of Agriculture say they're monitoring the highly pathogenic H5 and H7 viruses.
Some 60 cases have been reported so far.
General Manager of SAPA's Egg Industry Abongile Balarane says this is the worst outbreak ever to hit the country since avian influenza was first detected in 2017.
READ: Bird flu: Govt working to ensure no threat to food security - Ntshavheni
"There will be a shortage of eggs in South Africa due to the birds that are affected,” says Balarane.
"We have estimated that more than layer 5 million chickens have been culled with affected cases that can reach about 8.7 million layers.
"As an industry, we hope that the normal forces of supply and demand will drive the prices of eggs in South Africa until such time we have recovered from this."
