Redgrave Poultry, the company at the centre of the recent H5N1
avian flu outbreak, has responded to
DEFRA's first report into
the outbreak by admitting to biosecurity weaknesses.
Published on Friday (30 November), the
first epidemiological report failed to identify the source of
the outbreak, but it did cite "poor biosecurity" and the location
of the Redgrave Park Farm - just metres from an ornamental pond
inhabited by wild birds - as significant findings.
Therefore the report did not rule out wild birds as the source
of infection.
Responding, Redgrave Poultry operations manager Geoffrey
Buchanan stressed that turkeys, geese and ducks were kept in
separate paddocks. "And birds did not have any access to the lake
on the property, as we used electrified and permanent fencing,
empty ground and a road to segregate our poultry from the lake.
However he added that, after reading the report, he agreed with
many of the conclusions. Redgrave purchased the affected farms at
the beginning of this year and had already identified a number of
these as issues that need addressing. But due to the lack of
organic land, planned changes were impractical for this season
The company is now implementing new measures, in consultation
with DEFRA, the first being to avoid farms close to areas commonly
used by migratory birds. "We had already identified this as a
potential issue with Redgrave Park farm and plan to find
alternative farm for next season."
Looking at staff, Redgrave said that the nature of
organic and free
range farms in the UK meant that many of them were not large enough
to justify dedicated staff. "But from now on, we will provide
specific clothing for each farm for every worker and implement more
rigorous practices and protocols.
"We will also improve our processes to minimise movements
between farms and wherever possible operate farms large enough to
justify a dedicated staff.
"Finally, our workers will not live on our farms from now on,
other than when it is for operational reasons and then they will
live and work on the same farm to minimise movements between
farms," he said.
- Protection Zones could be lifted as early as 8 December
and the Survelliance Zone on 19 December providing there are no
further cases.