Poultry farm owners meet on March 21

Chennai, Mar 17 (UNI) A meeting of poultry farm owners in Tamil Nadu will be held here on March 21 to put them in a state of preparedness to tackle any emergency.

Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Sciences Director T N Palanivelu told UNI here today the meeting was being convened in the wake of the second outbreak of bird flu in Maharashtra.

Over 100 poultry owners are expected to attend the meeting to be held at the Tamil Nadu Veterinary College here, he said.

The meeting was to prepare poultry farm owners to face emergency situations and also to tell them to strictly adhere to biosecurity and safety measures to prevent any outbreak of the virus, he said.

Dr Palanivelu reiterated that the situation in Tamil Nadu was absolutely 'safe' and there was no need for any apprehension about consumption of chicken meat.

The Centre today reviewed the situation through tele-conferencing and detailed the steps taken to prevent spread of the bird flu virus.

The fresh outbreak in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra had not impacted the poultry industry in Tamil Nadu. 'There is no significant impact in the State as the sale of chicken meat and eggs is normal'.

There was no stagnation of eggs and the bird flu had not impacted chicken prices in the State, he added.

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