Bird flu-hit India must ease food safety fear

By Hari Ramachandran

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India’s poultry product exporters, hit by the first cases of bird flu, fear major losses unless the government acts immediately to reassure importing nations over food safety, a trade official said on Monday.

The secretary of the All India Poultry Products Exporters’ Association, P. Valsan, told Reuters that exporters had halted sales after the outbreak because they were concerned that importing countries might not accept the consignments.

"From today onwards nothing is moving. The Middle East is the destination for the bulk of our exports," Valsan said.

He said losses could amount to 500 million rupees ($11.26 million).

In a sign of what could follow, neighbours Pakistan and Nepal have already banned poultry products from India.

Valsan said he had urged officials to explain to concerned countries that the region from where exports — largely eggs — are mainly sent has not been affected by the deadly H5N1 strain of bird flu, and they should continue with their purchases.

"Bird flu will have an effect on exports if our government does not act on time and assure importing countries," Valson said from Namakkal, 350 kms from Chennai, an area which accounts for 85 percent of the country’s egg exports.

Bird flu has so far infected 171 people worldwide and killed 93, since it was first identified in Hong Kong in 1997.

At least 11 countries have reported outbreaks over the past three weeks, an indication the deadly virus is spreading faster.

DOOR-TO-DOOR CHECK

In India, officials in the remote district of Nandurbar in western Maharashtra state launched a door-to-door check for people with fever after 50,000 birds died and tests on some fowl showed the H5N1 strain as the cause of death.

India exports poultry products valued at close to three billion rupees every year, out of which eggs account for more than two-thirds, mainly to the Middle East, Africa, the European Union and Japan, Valsan said.

The industry’s exports between April and January exceeded 2.3 billion rupees, he said, but added: "It will be down by around 500 million rupees this year."

"This will have some impact on exports as everybody knows what has happened in India," said a government official involved in poultry exports.

Valsan said Pakistan was expected to be added to the list of importers this year but that was now in question.

"Now with this problem, we don’t know the status."

He said poultry products, including eggs, egg powder and other items, and valued at 100 million rupees were already bound for the Middle East and Africa.

"Exporters are in a sort of panic on whether the containers on the high seas will be accepted," Valsan said.

(Additional reporting by Biman Mukherji in MUMBAI)

($1=44.39 rupees)