The South African government announced today that it has culled almost 2.5 million chickens to control two different strains of avian influenza, which posed a risk of causing an egg shortage for consumers. The South African Poultry Association says the outbreak is the worst since 2017. The bird flu has caused neighboring country Namibia to ban chicken meat and egg imports from South Africa.
Based on analysis by The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bird flu outbreaks were on the rise globally, with more than 21,000 outbreaks happening between 2013 and 2022.
It was reported that about 205,000 chickens died from bird flu in at least 60 separate outbreaks across the country, with more than half of the outbreaks occurring in Gauteng province, which includes South Africa’s largest city, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.
According to Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza, the government was looking into acquiring new import permits for companies to import eggs from other countries in order “to ensure sufficient supplies for consumers.” The Ministry of Agriculture was also running a vaccination program to stop the spread of the bird flu as the number of cases in farms was increasing.
Some grocery stores in Johannesburg have limited the number of eggs sold to customers this week — in some cases, one carton containing six eggs.
According to Wilhelm Mare, chairman of the poultry group in the South African Veterinary Association, 8.5 million egg-laying chickens and 2.5 million chickens used for meat could be affected by the outbreak. She labeled the condition as being “catastrophic” for the food industry.
Eggs are a major source of protein in South Africa, however, prices have risen steadily this year. The shortages caused by the bird flu outbreak are expected to push the prices even higher, resulting in food inflation as supply was constrained.
