H7N6 Bird Flu Detection, New Zealand Stops Unggas Exports

UNSPLASH/Kristin Snippe ILLUSTRATION

New Zealand has suspended all poultry exports after detecting a highly pathogenic variant of bird flu on poultry farms on the South Island.

Testing confirmed the H7N6 bird flu subtype at a rural chicken farm in the Otago region, New Zealand Biosecurity said.

This is different from the H5N1 strain which has spread globally and raises concerns about human transmission.

"Until we finish the situation on this farm, and assuming no other problems arise elsewhere, then we will be able to export again," Hayati and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard told Radio New Zealand after the announcement.

"The incubation period is a maximum of 21 days, so later we will know how the situation is," he added.

New Zealand's biosecurity says there are no reports of sick or dead poultry on other poultry farms, and no human health or food safety issues.

Hoggard ensures it is safe to eat cooked eggs and poultry products.

"We are taking these findings seriously, our testing shows that these findings have nothing to do with the H7 strain identified in Australia earlier this year," said New Zealand Deputy Director General of Biosecurity, Stuart Anderson, in a separate statement.