Canards du Lac-Brome, which was the first commercial poultry farm in Quebec hit by the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian flu last week, estimates that it will take up to a year before it can resume operations.
Posted at 10:01 a.m.
“It is still too early to assess the exact duration before the resumption of operations and the normal supply of the distribution networks, but to date, it would be difficult to envisage a resumption before a minimum of 10 to 12 months”, has the company said in a statement Wednesday morning.
For the moment, only three of the 13 sites of the largest duck producer in Quebec are affected. “At the other sites, the tests carried out for the moment have proven to be negative and the quality of the products is impeccable”, underlined the company, indicating that their production can be delivered to its usual distribution channels. However, it expects to run out of stock in about a month.
“The situation suggests that at the current rate, the supply of distribution channels should cease within 4 to 5 weeks,” the statement noted.
Canards du Lac-Brome, which employs more than 300 people and raises more than 350,000 ducks continuously, says it holds 60% of the Canadian market in all the segments it occupies.
“All existing industry protocols have in no way been called into question in connection with the current crisis,” the company assured in its press release.
The highly pathogenic virus, which emerged on Canadian farms last December, has forced the culling of at least 700,000 birds, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) estimated on Monday.
The general manager of Canards du Lac-Brome, Angela Anderson, launched “a cry from the heart” to “all levels of government” so that they support “a creative, innovative and structuring recovery plan”.
“After two major fires, the difficult COVID-19 environment that we have recovered from over the past few years, we really thought we had seen it all,” said Ms.me Anderson.