BOUNTY FRESH Food, Inc. on Wednesday assured the public its chicken products are safe, following the government’s completion of its culling operations to contain the avian influenza outbreak.
“We at Bounty Fresh, for one, are focused on the strict implementation of biosecurity measures in all our facilities, ensuring that all critical control points in its value chain are covered,” said Vicente Manalo, Jr., senior vice-president for contract growing of Bounty Fresh Food in a statement on Wednesday.
“Also, the level of hygiene and sanitation that we employ in the farms are consistently above industry standard. We keep these facilities isolated from other poultry facilities and strictly enforce visit/movement restrictions,” he added.
Bounty Fresh added that it has expanded its laboratory’s capacity to actively screen for the disease.
Following the Department of Agriculture’s announcement an outbreak of avian influenza in a poultry farm in San Luis, Pampanga — the first in the country for decades — farm product suppliers and restaurant operators since scrambled to reassure the public that their products remain free from the disease.
The Bureau of Animal Industry has officially completed the culling of infected chickens and other fowls in San Luis, Pampanga.
Also, government veterinarians will soon finish work on culling birds in San Isidro and Jaen in Nueva Ecija as well.
Just last week, the agency said the strain was tested positive for N6 which makes it transferable to humans but the local government assured that risk of transmission is low. — Janina C. Lim
