In response to a series of bird flus at poultry farms in various regions from last fall to this spring, which caused the greatest damage in the past season, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries went to poultry farms to strengthen countermeasures. We have begun to review the required hygiene management standards.
From November to March last year, bird flu occurred at 52 poultry farms in 18 prefectures such as Kagawa and Chiba prefectures, and 9.87 million chickens were slaughtered. Both of them were the highest ever for one season.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries decided to revise the rules that set hygiene management standards in order to strengthen the measures, and on the 17th, it consulted with a specialized subcommittee made up of infectious disease experts.
The point of the amendment is to shorten the grace period for guidance and recommendations to poultry farms with inadequate hygiene management from the current two weeks and request prompt improvement, and the way of thinking when announcing businesses that do not comply. In order to prevent the spread after the outbreak, it will be considered that the business operator secures a land for slaughter in advance.
In addition, since outbreaks have occurred one after another in poultry farms that raise more than 500,000 chickens, it is also a policy to require large-scale poultry farms to appoint a person in charge of hygiene management for each of the multiple poultry houses.
The future will be discussed in the committee of the Committee, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has to be amended and enforcement rules to the prospect of the end of September this year before entering the epidemic season.