Greetings,
Given the warnings.. can we be assured the chicken we are eating is safe? Are the farms with birds taking steps?
Just curious. Local is best but vulnerable atm.
Barb
Hi Barb, and whoever else this may make it to. I thought I’d take this opportunity to fully explain the measures in place for small farms to help protect both the chickens and the health of the people who live around them.
Firstly, yes, the chicken you are eating is safe. If you are interested in reading in full the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s (CFIA) current guidelines on avian influenza for consumers, here is a link to it. From a food safety perspective it poses very low risk with proper food handling and cooking.
Now, let’s get a bit more into the weeds. Chicken farming here is primarily controlled at the provincial level with a larger overarching strategy stemming from the federal level. Broadly speaking, there are three levels of chicken growers in Ontario.
1) Family food grower – Any Ontario resident with an appropriate property is permitted to buy up to 300 broiler chickens in a calendar year to grow for themselves or small scale private sale. You need to provide your name and the premises they will be grown on. This information is added to a database that we will reference later.
2) Artisanal grower – This is where RTE falls. Larger than a family food grower, but not industrial scale, this is a special license allowing small and medium farms to grow up to ~2000 chickens per year. Along with having our farm’s location in the database, we are also part of a larger Provincial farm location database (called Premises ID). Additionally, we participate in yearly veterinary education seminars and are audited by the Chicken Farmers of Ontario (CFO) to ensure we are following best practices for overall health of the chicken and consumers.
3) Industrial Scale – This is the stereotypical “chicken farm”; large scale 20,000 chickens in one barn sort of operation. These farms need to buy special quota licenses to grow. They are outside the scope of the question, and my knowledge, but follow similar regulatory guidelines as Artisanal farmers.
Avian flu transmits primarily through two avenues. First, contact with wild birds and secondly, bad biosecurity practices. Think ‘wearing the same boots from a park full of Canadian Geese and then into your chicken barn’ sort of idea. As an artisanal farmer we are mandated by the CFO, and personally incentivised, to be as safe as possible to prevent either of these two conditions from occurring. It might sound simple but it is something to be mindful of. I have dedicated on-farm footwear and clothing, and avoid entering the chicken’s living area unless absolutely necessary. We also have boot washing stations when appropriate and keep records of any visitors to the farm that will interact with the birds on some level. Other low-tech solutions are keeping reflective tape around the pasture (to spook birds) and cleaning up any feed spills ASAP to prevent attracting wild birds. This might sound basic, but this helps prevent any immediate contact with wild birds and makes a large impact on my potential risk.
Every chicken that arrives at my farm is registered and accounted for throughout the growing season. If a chicken arrives at my farm to be raised, and does not arrive at the abattoir to be processed, it needs to be accounted for. While some unexpected loss of life does happen when growing chickens, if anything peculiar happens there will be an investigation into the cause by the CFO.
The database that I referenced earlier creates a map for the CFO that shows them where any chickens are being grown at any one time. Throughout the year, we are sent update emails on potential bird flu hotspots and when to be more stringent with biosecurity measures. If there were to be an outbreak at any location, the CFO will cull all chickens within about 1km of the ground zero infection to prevent further spread and risk.
Every year I am audited on my operation to ensure I’m following proper protocols for biosecurity and general good practice. Some examples of things I am audited on are: Location of the broiler chickens, ensuring that none of my other farm animals can interact with the broiler chickens, methods for preventing wild bird contamination, proper clothing and footwear solutions, logbooks for visitors, handwashing and sanitation stations at key high risk points.
Lastly, there is a network of inspectors that are present at the end of each chicken’s growing period. At the abattoir, there is a Provincial food safety inspector that will inspect each chicken before approving them to be sent ahead to become food. This inspector has the ability to turn away unhealthy chickens, sanction farmers, sanction the abattoir, or call in a federal agency for investigation into a farm. The CFIA is also present on a rotating schedule to ensure safe transport of animals, but also has the ability to hold a farmer accountable.
At the end of the day, living systems are complex and it’s always a constant battle to make sure my chickens stay safe. Rest assured there is an army of people working every day to make sure that the chicken you eat is safe – including me. I hope this helps ease your concern.
Ben Van Rijn
RTE Farm