Chandigarh, January 29: The Punjab Animal Husbandry Minister Mr. Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa today disclosed that Punjab is almost safe from Bird Flu. The Animal Husbandry Minister said that the 99.5% of the poultry farms in Punjab were free from bird flu, out of the total samples tested so far at Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory, Jalandhar.
He said that only 0.5% of the farms have been found to be infected with the avian influenza. He expressed hope that that with the hardworking efforts of the state government and poultry farmers the state would be soon fully safe from bird flu. The Punjab Government aims to test 100% of all poultry farms / backyard poultry in the state. ‘The state government was committed to provide disease free poultry products to the people’, added Bajwa
Giving information about the prevention of bird flu in the state of Punjab, Mr. Vijay Kumar Janjua, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Fisheries and Dairy Development, Punjab said that so far 8022 samples have been tested at Regional Disease Diagnostic Laboratory at Jalandhar in Punjab. He also informed that there are about 641 egg laying poultry farms and about 2851 meat production farms in the state and so far RDDL, Jalandhar has collected and tested samples from around 750 farms.
Additional Chief Secretary Mr. Janjua also appealed to the general public to eat fully cooked meat and eggs as experts have advised that it is safe to eat, if meat and eggs are cooked at 70 degree Celsius for minimum for 20 minutes.
At the same time he said that the Punjab government would extend full support to the poultry farmers for conducting the tests of their poultry farms and these tests would be done completely free of cost.
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