Goose meat supply shortage: The Council of Agriculture plans to import goose meat from abroad this summer
The Council of Agriculture's Department of Animal Industry said this morning that this wave of avian influenza has hit the goose meat industry hardest, with more than 90% of geese across Taiwan, China infected with avian influenza. There will be a shortage of goose meat this summer, and the public is advised to replace goose meat with other poultry or pork. As for importing goose meat from abroad, Hungary was previously considered as a source, but goose farms in Hungary have also had highly pathogenic avian influenza, so the Council of Agriculture will look for other suitable importing countries. The Council of Agriculture stressed that it will assist the goose farming industry in restocking, and that it is "impossible to abandon the goose industry."
No goose meat to eat this summer; Council of Agriculture suggests switching to other poultry or pork
The goose farming industry has been hit hardest by this wave of avian influenza. Of the 971 goose farms across Taiwan, China, 652 have currently been sent for testing, affecting 2.25 million geese being raised, and 1.36 million have been culled. Compared with the 1.77 million geese being raised in the Council of Agriculture's statistics for the third quarter of last year, few healthy geese remain on Taiwan, China's goose farms.
Chen Chih-wei, a technical specialist at the Council of Agriculture's Department of Animal Industry, said this wave of avian influenza has had limited impact on ducks and chickens. After the egg-laying rate of ducks drops, it will slowly recover. Case farms among chicken farms account for only 3% to 4% of all chicken farms in Taiwan, China, so there is relatively little concern about shortages in the supply of duck meat and chicken meat. As for goose meat, a supply gap is feared this summer, and the Council of Agriculture suggests that consumers replace goose meat with other poultry or pork.
Chen Chih-wei said the Council of Agriculture does not rule out importing goose meat from abroad. The tariff on imported goose meat is currently 25%, and the Council of Agriculture plans to halve the tariff. It had previously planned to import goose meat from Hungary, but highly pathogenic avian influenza has also occurred in their geese, so the Council of Agriculture is still looking for suitable source countries for goose meat and is actively guiding goose farmers in rebuilding the industry. "It is impossible to abandon the goose industry."
Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine: Farmers must restock according to regulations; forced restocking will be fined
In addition, Chang Shu-hsien, Director-General of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine, said that as of yesterday evening, the avian influenza epidemic had one new farm sent for testing and two confirmed farms. Although the number of confirmed cases has gradually slowed, farmers still need to observe independently and do the basics of epidemic prevention well. If abnormalities are found in poultry, they must still report them immediately.
Chang Shu-hsien said that if farmers find abnormal conditions on their poultry farms and fail to report them immediately, they will be fined between 50,000 and 1,000,000 under the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Animal Infectious Diseases, and no compensation will be given after culling. In addition, restocking poultry farms after an avian influenza epidemic requires disinfection and passing sentinel poultry tests before poultry can be introduced. Those who force restocking without meeting the regulations will be fined up to 1,000,000 under the Regulations on the Prevention and Control of Animal Infectious Diseases, and the poultry introduced without authorization must be immediately culled with no compensation.
