Australian Egg Prices Set to Soar Following Bird Flu Outbreak
AUSTRALIA - An Illawarra poultry farmer has warned the price of eggs may increase dramatically as a result of an outbreak of bird flu in the Central West.ABC News reports that the Department of Primary Industries will cull over 400,000 chickens after the H7 Avian Influenza was confirmed in a flock of layer hens near Young.
Kevin Binner owns a Poultry Farm at Helensburgh and said it could be 12 months before the chickens are able to be replaced.
"I feel that eggs are going to shorten up and probably be like the bananas when the cyclone went through."
"They'll be a lot dearer, other than that, we'll just have to wait and see it doesn't spread any further," he said.
Mr Binner said he's not concerned the virus will reach the east coast of NSW
He said it's unlikely the infection will spread now the farm has been quarantined.
"Now and then you get an outbreak of different things but mostly the agricultural department gets onto it pretty quick and keeps it to one area."
"We're just lucky in Australia things run like that," he said.
The NSW Food Authority has confirmed that there are no food safety issues and that poultry and eggs remain safe to eat.
Further Reading
You can visit the Avian Flu page by clicking here.