Government advises states to declare animal health emergency

This Thursday (20), Minister Carlos Fávaro met with governors and representatives of the states and the Federal District, advising governments to declare a state of zoosanitary emergency and reinforce containment actions and prevent the spread of the disease, mainly for commercial birds.

In May, with records of the first outbreaks of the disease in migratory birds this year, the Mapa declared a state of animal health emergency throughout the national territory by means of an ordinance published in the Federal Official Gazette.

In the understanding of the ministry, for the measures to combat avian flu to be effective, it is necessary that the states also adopt similar measures, reinforcing the alert even in locations where there is no record of an outbreak of avian flu. This is because the occurrence of a case in a commercial bird would affect the entire country.

The case of Santa Catarina led the Japanese government to suspend the purchase of live poultry and poultry meat produced in the state. Second largest exporter of chicken in the country, Santa Catarina was responsible for the sale of 545.5 thousand tons outside Brazil in this first semester. Japan was the destination of 219.8 thousand tons, a number 8.5% higher than that registered in the same period last year

business mission

The Map will take advantage of a trade mission and business forecast for next week to try to reverse the Japanese decision. A delegation of Minister Carlos Fávaro with meat exporters will participate in meetings and seminars in South Korea and Japan.

According to Fávaro, the Brazilian government is willing to reopen the Japanese market to Brazilian chicken as soon as possible. On Monday (17), the ministry sent the clarifications to the Japanese health authorities. The folder points out that Brazil remains free of avian flu for commercial birds.

“We are working, as always, with speed and transparency, promptly adopting all control measures and demonstrating this so that consumers of our chicken products, who are in more than 150 countries around the world, remain calm and confident”, explained the minister.

Leader in chicken meat exports to the world, accounting for 35% of the global market, Brazil is one of the only countries that still maintains the status of free of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Avian Influenza) in commercial poultry, according to the protocol of the World Organization for Animal Health (OMSA). Control of the pandemic situation has been possible thanks to an internationally recognized health defense system.