Bird flu – health and safety advice
Is it safe to eat poultry or game?
On the basis of current scientific evidence, the Food Standards Agency advises that bird flu does not pose a food safety risk for UK consumers. This is because the risk of catching the disease is from close contact with live poultry that have the disease and not through eating cooked poultry, game or eggs. Further information about this is available on the Food Standards Agency website.
If you find dead wild birds
If you find 10 or more dead birds of the same species or from different species in the same place you should contact the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Helpline 08459 33 55 77, which is open from 8:30am – 8pm, 7 days a week.
Defra may wish to have the birds examined for signs of specific diseases. If this is the case they will advise you on what action you should take.
If Defra don’t need to examine the carcasses then they should be disposed of. It is the responsibility of the owner or manager of the land where the bird was found to dispose of them through the normal waste disposal routes.
If you find just one small wild bird then you do not need to call Defra. In this case you should either leave it alone or follow the guidelines below for disposal.
Handling dead birds
Wild birds can carry several diseases infectious to people, including salmonella and campylobacter, so you should avoid any contact with dead birds. If you must move or touch take these simple hygienic precautions:
- Wear disposable protective gloves (not latex) when picking up and handling the carcass. If gloves are not available, a plastic bag can be turned inside out and used as a makeshift glove.
- Place the carcass in a suitable, leak-proof plastic bag, taking care not to contaminate the outside of this bag.
- Seal the bag and place it in a second plastic bag.
- Remove gloves by turning them inside out and then place them in the second plastic bag or in a separate plastic bag that should be sealed.
- Wash the outside of the second plastic bag with soap and water or disinfectant.
- Wash your hands, nails and forearms thoroughly with soap and water after handling the carcass. Do not handle any food until this has been done.
- If there is obvious soiling of clothing, this should be cleaned and washed with soap and water.
- Do not place dead bird carcasses in a freezer.
Feeding garden birds
Although there are no known cases of people catching the disease from garden birds, you should always follow sensible hygiene procedures. These include washing your hands thoroughly after filling and washing bird feeders.
Wild birds and nests
Almost all cases of bird flu in humans so far have been caused by close contact with sick or infected domestic poultry. There is minimal risk of catching bird flu from wild birds, so do not take any action against them.
From an animal welfare and conservation standpoint it is important to conserve wild bird species. All wild birds are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and it is an offence to:
- kill, injure or take any wild bird
- take, damage or destroy the nest of any wild bird while it is in use or being built
- take or destroy an egg of any wild bird.
What happens if there is an outbreak?
If there is a confirmed infection in poultry, the movement of animals, litter and vehicles from the infected premises would be prohibited and the location and its vehicles cleaned and disinfected. Diseased birds, plus those suspected of being diseased or that have been exposed to infection would be slaughtered. Eggs would also be destroyed.
A 3km protection zone would be set up around the infected premises for at least 21 days. A wider 10km surveillance zone would also be set up, within which vets would visit people who keep pet birds to check for signs of bird flu. This zone would remain for at least 30 days. Poultry and the movement of poultry, eggs or carcasses would be the subject of very tight restrictions and controls.
The government does not predict that footpaths, country parks and other open spaces will need to be closed to the public if there is an outbreak of bird flu.
