South African poultry producers have the capacity to make up for the loss of Brazilian chicken meat imports owing to an outbreak of avian influenza, or bird flu, in that country, says South African Poultry Association (SAPA) Broiler Organisation CEO Izaak Breitenbach.

The local industry is currently producing about 21.5-million chickens a week and has the capacity to increase this by about another one-million birds a week.

As the winter months are a period of lower demand for chicken, the additional supply should be sufficient to ensure there are no shortages of chicken meat, or price increases because of shortages, in South Africa as a result of lower imports from Brazil, he notes.

Brazil announced the bird flu outbreak last week and South Africa’s Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) is expected to ban the import of all fresh and frozen chicken from Brazil.

Brazil has no compartmentalisation agreement with South Africa, which would have allowed imports from other parts of Brazil except the regions or provinces affected by the outbreak.

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters on May 19 called for local authorities to restrict imports only from the specific regions in Brazil affected by the bird flu, rather than a blanket ban on all chicken meat imports from that country.

SAPA says South African producers supply more than 80% of the chicken consumed in country and that imports from Brazil, which accounts for the majority of chicken meat imports into South Africa, equated to about 18% of local consumption last year.

If there is a problem following a ban on Brazilian imports, it will concern mechanically deboned meat (MDM), and will not impact on fresh or frozen chicken meat, Breitenbach says.

MDM is used in the production of processed meats such as polony and sausages and is not made in large quantities in South Africa.

MDM accounts for about 60% of South Africa's poultry imports from Brazil. The second largest category is offal, which are products such as chicken heads, feet, gizzards and livers. A smaller proportion, at 4.5% of Brazilian imports, comprises bone-in chicken portions such as leg quarters, thighs, drumsticks and wings, he adds.

The impact of a ban on Brazilian chicken imports will not be felt immediately. Chicken imports from Brazil can take about six weeks to reach South Africa and product dispatched before the ban is implemented will not be affected.

Further, DALRRD has rejected suggestions that, should bird flu break out in Brazil, South Africa should allow MDM imports on condition that the MDM is used only in products that will be cooked or heat treated, which will kill the virus.

The department has said it will not allow the importation of potentially infected chicken products.

SAPA agrees with the position not to allow the importation of poultry products that will place the local industry at risk from any infectious disease such as bird flu, he says.

“Whether Brazil’s bird flu outbreak can be confined to the one facility where it occurred remains to be seen. The spread of the virus in Europe and the US shows that culling is proving ineffective in stamping out any outbreak.

“That is why vaccination is increasingly being seen as an essential tool in efforts to prevent disastrous outbreaks such as South Africa experienced in 2023,” Breitenbach emphasises.