Western Australia is the only state to not have an egg purchase limit imposed on it this morning, as Victoria deals with a growing bird flu outbreak.
Coles introduced the two-carton limit after the highly pathogenic H7N3 strain of bird flu was detected on five Victorian farms, with more than half a million chickens euthanised in an effort to stop the spread.
A highly pathogenic form of bird flu has been identified.Credit: Bloomberg
But WA Commercial Egg Production Association president Ian Wilson has told Radio 6PR, WA farmers have enough eggs to keep supplying our state.
“At the minute here in Western Australia, we’re just concentrated on filling the shelves for our local markets, and I don’t think there would be any spare to send to the east,” he said.
He said bird flu tends to infect chickens through wild birds, however, WA was not typically in their flight path.
“Fortunately in WA we’re not in the migratory pattern for wild birds, they tend to come from Asia across to Victoria,” he said.
He said, however, there are regularly trade movements of eggs between the east and west.
Coles says the limit is temporary but has not revealed how long it is expected to last.
Source Agencies
