JOHANNESBURG - POULTRY producer Astral Foods said yesterday that its Welbedacht farm in Mpumalanga continues to fight against Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza H5N8.
In the process the disease has cost the company R50million since it was first reported in one of its farms in Villiers in June. “It was previously reported that the outbreak on Welbedacht was isolated to one poultry shed on the farm and that the outbreak was being managed in an effort to contain the spread of the infection to the rest of the farm.
Astral can report that, notwithstanding a huge effort and numerous measures implemented to contain the infection to the one affected shed, the infection has spread to other sheds on the farm,” the group said. Astral assured that it was taking swift action to deal with the outbreak as the farm remained under quarantine.