Quantum Foods became the latest major South African poultry producer to report a bird flu outbreak, when it said on Wednesday that a highly contagious strain had affected at least two of two of its commercial layer farms in the Western Cape. "The outbreak has only been confirmed at two layer houses but as a preventative measure, management has decided to depopulate the two sites in totality," Quantum Foods said in a statement. "This affects 9% of the group’s current national table egg supply. This outbreak occurred despite stringent bio-security measures in place at all Quantum Foods farms." Quantum said it would make up some of the shortfall by bringing unused capacity into use. Sovereign Foods last week culled at least 5,000 birds at its Uitenhage production pipeline. Late in August, Astral Foods said the outbreak of avian flu at certain of its farms had cost the group R50m. The outbreaks have been mainly reported in Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Western Cape and Eastern Cape. Shares of Qu...
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