No need to panic buy chicken and eggs, department says

There is no need for consumers to panic buy chicken and eggs after millions of chickens were culled due to a recent outbreak of avian flu according to the department of agriculture, land reform and rural development.

“The department would like to inform consumers that egg stock levels are replenishing steadily and that there is no need for panic buying. There are a few open import permits for eggs and poultry products from a number of countries,” Reggie Ngcobo, spokesperson for the department, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“South Africa has been Importing table eggs, fertilised eggs, pasteurised eggs, egg powder and liquid eggs for many years and did not only start with the current outbreak of the Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).”

Ngcobo said countries that include Brazil, the US and Argentina have been exporting eggs to South Africa for quite some time and the department is currently processing import permit applications from a few more countries.   

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Risk assessment for imported chicken and eggs

“As a department we do not dictate which countries South African retailers should import eggs from but only ensure that biosecurity risk assessments are conducted when importers apply for import permits.

“It does not matter for us as a department which country importers apply to import eggs from, as long as we are satisfied with biosecurity matters in exporting countries, irrespective of whether that country is Kenya or the US. The biosecurity assessments are done to prevent the introduction of diseases to our shores,” he says.     

“We are happy that the HPI outbreak is under control and that 70% of farms that were not infected continue to produce eggs and chickens. Since the egg production cycle is not too long, we expect the situation to normalize early next year. We will continue to import more eggs should the situation not improve.” 

He said to prepare for the festive season, imports included 9 million fertilized eggs, 37 802 tons of day-old chicks, 62 metric tons of egg products and 30 986 tons of poultry meat.  

“We increased imports of fertilised eggs from 1.9 million to 9 million in less than one month. These eggs will be chickens in less 4 months,” Ngcobo said.