The outbreak of bird flu at the chicken company in Gasselternijveenschemond causes unrest in the area. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) has confirmed the contamination and is now preparing the animal’s clearance. In addition, samples were taken at all poultry farms within a radius of three kilometers.
Companies in the area await the results of the samples taken. Jaco van Kampen, neighbor of the affected company, responds: “I was shocked. Especially now that it is suddenly so close. That makes Impact.”
Van Kampen’s company is about 1.5 kilometers from the affected company and at the moment he is waiting for the results of the monsters that were taken at his company. “My chickens don’t have any symptoms yet, so I assume it’s all good,” says Van Kampen. “But of course you have tension.”
Van Kampen was told through a bell that it was wrong with his neighbor, while the company succeeded all the protocols. “Nobody just comes in there, if you have to go inside, then you have to take a shower, everything is well arranged. It is not a junk company, as you used to see.”
Yet it appears that these strict measures also offer no guarantee. “You really live for your animals, you are working on it day in day out and then it happens. That is a shock.”
The poultry farm Boerveenshof from Rolf Kanninga is also located in the three kilometer zone. Just like Van Kampen, he is still waiting for the result. “You will remain fairly calm, but when I had to make the first round in the stable the day after the news, it was just as exciting.”
How the outbreak originated is unclear for both. “You always think, the company had everything done, why are they struck. It is really a kind of roulette, you are lucky or you are unlucky. Stupid bad luck, you can’t do anything about it,” says Kanninga.
The chicken company from which the bird flu is broken nowadays falls under Plukon, a company that makes chicken grinding products, among other things. Spokesperson Inge Voetdijk: “We found yesterday during the process that something stood out, with a number of chickens something was wrong. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) was called in, that is a standard process.”
The taken tests turned out to be positive. From that moment on everything went fast. “The NVWA is now doing a valuation,” says Voetdijk the moment we speak to her. “Everything is mapped and so the clearance is being prepared. It will be at the end of the afternoon or tomorrow today.”
Then everything must be disinfected. “The procedure is that you are not allowed to do anything in the stables for a long time.” According to Voegon, Plukon took over the company a while ago. How large the damage will be is not yet clear to the company.
“The moment animals have to be cleared, it has consequences. It has an impact on people, but it is also annoying that we cannot deliver chicks,” explains Inge Voetdijk. “The manager was excited by the outbreak of bird flu in his company from love for his profession.”
According to her, the company did everything to prevent bird flu: “Where you can, you try. There are many measures to work as safely as possible. But bird flu is also spread by wild birds. If they are on your roof, there may be a contamination.”
The surrounding companies receive the results of the samples today or tomorrow. In addition to the lifting obligation, the chickens are now closely monitored. “I now pay extra attention to whether there are no diseases, although I have a lot of confidence that the test is good. But of course you never know for sure.”
Kanninga: “After a rash and the first rounds in the stable in the coming days, the tension will slowly go off. But in the coming period it will just be extra good and wait, you can’t do more now.”