AVA holds culling exercise at poultry slaughterhouse

AVA holds culling exercise at poultry slaughterhouse

    By Leong Wai Kit
    POSTED: 17 Jul 2013 3:26 PM
 
Singapore may be free of bird flu, but it cannot let down its guard against an outbreak here -- that is the message from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA). It held a poultry-culling exercise at a slaughterhouse for the first time, involving 500 chickens.

SINGAPORE: Singapore may be free of bird flu, but it cannot let down its guard against an outbreak here -- that is the message from the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA). It held a poultry-culling exercise at a slaughterhouse for the first time, involving 500 chickens.

It takes a few seconds for chickens to be culled via electrocution -- the AVA said the method is humane, and globally approved.

Soonly Food Processing Industries is one of 14 poultry slaughterhouses in Singapore, and every day, the slaughterhouses process about 165,000 chickens and ducks. Workers at the slaughterhouses go through regular training to prepare them for emergencies.

On Wednesday, some workers went through the drills that would kick-in during an outbreak.

First, their health is assessed before they start work -- their temperatures are taken, and staff with fever are not allowed to be in direct contact with chickens. Staff are also given tamiflu to prevent them from developing flu.

They then put on extra protection. On normal days, slaughterhouse workers don masks and gloves at work, but during an emergency, they will wear extra protective gear, including goggles, hair nets and double-layered gloves.

As for the culled birds, the carcasses are packed into biohazard bags and sent for incineration. Vehicles and equipment that have come in contact with the chickens are also decontaminated.

This is AVA's seventh exercise since 2002, and the first that involves a slaughterhouse.

Chew Keng Wah, COO of Soonly Food Processing Industries, said: "Workers also appreciate the value of such an exercise because when we talk to them, different people think of different things. But when you put them through an actual exercise, they know exactly what it is, what the stages are."

AVA said it would continue working with various agencies to improve its contingency plans.

Dr Yap Him Hoo, group director of the quarantine and inspection group at the AVA, said: "The main thing we want to do through this exercise is to train our officers as well as the other parties who may be involved in the contingency planning -- to be familiar with the steps and procedures, and to know what to do.

"So far, the progress has been good. We noticed that our staff are well-trained to tackle bird flu incursions."

Some 100 people from AVA and the slaughterhouse were involved in Wednesday's exercise. It also included observers from the National Environment Agency and Ministry of Health.

- CNA/ac

- wong chee tat :)