As the number of infected farms increases, foie gras producers have called on sanitary authorities to increase a preventive slaughter.
According to data announced on 7 January by the French Ministry of Agriculture, more than 350 thousand ducks have already been destroyed in the country. In a previous report from the head of the veterinary service, it was reported that as of 5 January, the number of killed ducks was 200 thousand.
“The virus is stronger than us. New clusters are constantly emerging,” the head of France’s CIFOQ federation of foie gras producers, Marie-Pierre Pe, said as quoted by the Guardian.
According to the current procedure, all waterfowl within a radius of three kilometres from the identified foci are subject to destruction. Other poultry must also be slaughtered if it is kept outdoors.
Outbreaks of bird flu have also been recently detected in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, northern Germany and Belgium.