The ministries of agriculture, trade and industry, supply, health, and local development have prepared mechanisms for adopting law No. 70 of 2009, aiming to ban the distribution of live poultry in Cairo and Giza governorates in May 2018.
The law also aims to prevent the spread of diseases like bird flu (H5N1) and protect public health and the environment.
Head of the Poultry Division at the Federation of Egyptian Chambers of Commerce Abdel Aziz al-Sayed clarified that the mechanisms would offer facilities to investors in the production of poultry and the establishment of slaughterhouses and storage refrigerators in the desert areas.
Sayed added that the government would establish poultry marketing companies to facilitate the delivery of poultry from the farm to slaughterhouses, packaging stations, traders and consumers.
The government will form a technical committee that will hold meetings to assess the new law and ensure the abundance of frozen and refrigerated poultry.
Historically, the government of Egypt has adopted a number of mechanisms aimed at limiting the spread of avian flu, with varying degrees of success, since the subtype H5N1 virus was first reported in poultry in 2006 and was declared enzootic in 2008. However, the virus continued to circulate, and infections were reported in more governorates.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
