Voluntary Report - public distribution

**Date:** 4/7/2006

**GAIN Report Number:** GM6015

GM6015

**Germany**

**Sanitary/Phytosanitary/Food Safety**

**AI confirmed in a Commercial Poultry Farm - Consumer Reaction
Limited**

**2006**

**Approved by:**

![](media/image1.wmf)William Westman

U.S. Embassy, Berlin

**Prepared by:**

Sabine M Lieberz

**Report Highlights:**

The German national reference laboratory confirmed high pathogen H5N1 in
a commercial poultry farm in the State of Saxony. In line with the
German AI protection law all poultry in the affected farm was destroyed.
The route of transmission is still being investigated. A survey by the
national TV station ARD suggests that consumer reaction on the new
findings will be limited. The value of German poultry and egg production
totalled US\$ 1.98 billion in 2005.

Includes PSD Changes: No

Includes Trade Matrix: No

Unscheduled Report

Berlin \[GM1\]

\[GM\]

On April 5, 2006, the German reference laboratory
*Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut* (FLI) confirmed high pathogen H5N1 in
turkeys in a commercial farm in Wermsdorf. Wermsdorf is located about 50
km east of the city of Leipzig in the state of Saxony in the East of
Germany. AI was last confirmed in a commercial flock in Germany in May
2003.

The entire flock (8,000 turkeys, 5,000 geese, and 3,300 chickens held in
separate units) were destroyed in line with the German Avian Influenza
Protection Law (*Gefluegelpestschutzverordnung*). A protection zone (3
km), a surveillance zone (10 km), and a buffer zone (13 km) were
established immediately. In addition, local authorities also decided to
cull all poultry within the 3 km protection zone as a preventive
measure. This affects 90 farms with a total of 14,000 birds. All
exemptions from the requirement to keep poultry indoors have been
revoked for the entire State of Saxony, except for zoological gardens.

The EU decided to place an export ban in the buffer zone. This means
that no poultry nor poultry-related products from a 13 km radius around
the affected farm may be exported to other EU member states or to non EU
countries. The ban will be in effect until May 8, 2006. The fact that
the ban was limited to the 13 km zone rather than the whole state is a
recognition of the swift and thorough response by the local authorities.

Experts from the FLI are currently investigating how the virus got into
the farm. One theory is that contact of the geese with wild birds led to
the spread of the virus into the flock. However, there are some doubts
about this theory because the virus was only detected in turkeys and
none of the geese had contracted AI. The farm obtained a special permit
to exempt the geese for four hours per day from the requirement to be
kept indoors. This was deemed necessary because breeding geese react
with behavioral disorders (e.g. stop propagating) if kept permanently
inside a building. Other suspected means of transmission include
contaminated feed or human action such as contaminated boots.

# Poultry production in Saxony and Germany

With a total of 16,000 birds, the affected farm was the largest
commercial poultry farm in Saxony. In May 2005, Saxony recorded 2,400
farms with 7.7 million chickens, 223,900 turkeys, 39,300 geese, and
14,000 ducks. Saxony ranks fourth among the German poultry producing
states with seven percent of total commercial poultry population. The
top three poultry producing states are Lower-Saxony, North
Rhine-Westphalia, and Bavaria, with 44, 9, and 8 percent of the poultry
population, respectively.

In 2005, Germany produced 1.03 million MT of poultry meat and 790,000 MT
or 12.85 billion pieces of eggs. The production value at the producer
level amounted to US\$ 1.33 billion (1.1 billion Euro) for poultry plus
US\$ 651 million (542 million Euro) for eggs. In total, it comprises 4.5
percent of the total German agricultural production.

According to the animal census carried out in May 2005, Germany reports
a total of 120.5 million live poultry animals. Broken down this
represents 107 million chickens, thereof 50 million laying hens and
chicks and 57 million broilers, plus 11 million turkeys, 2.3 million
ducks, and 329,500 geese.

# Table: Poultry numbers in Saxony and Germany in May 2005

  ----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------
                          Germany                 Saxony

  Chickens                107 million             7.7 million

  Turkeys                 11 million              223,900

  Ducks                   2.3 million             39,300

  Geese                   329,500                 14,000

  Total Poultry           120.5 million           8.04 million
  ----------------------- ----------------------- -----------------------

Source: German Federal Office of Statistics, Wiesbaden

# Impact on poultry consumption

Consumer reaction towards the first detection in a commercial poultry
farms appears to be limited. A representative survey conducted by the
national TV station ARD on April 6, found that only 22 percent of the
respondents said that they will refrain from eating poultry products due
to the new findings, while 75 percent claimed it will not influence
their eating habits. After the detection of AI in several European
countries and Turkey in the Fall and Winter of 2005/2006, household
purchases[^1] of poultry products in Germany dropped by 18 percent in
January and 17 percent in February 2006, compared to the previous year.

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[^1]: This does not include consumption at hotels, restaurants, and
    institutional facilities.