> Retouradres Postbus 20401 2500 EK Den Haag Bureau Bestuursraad President of the House of Representatives of the States General Binnenhof 4 2513 AA THE HAGUE Bezoekadres Bezuidenhoutseweg 73 2594 AC Den Haag Postadres Postbus 20401 2500 EK Den Haag Factuuradres Postbus 16180 2500 BD Den Haag Overheidsidentificatienr 00000001003214369000 T 070 379 8911 (algemeen) www.rijksoverheid.nl/ez Date Subject 25 November 2014 Resolution of slaughter capacity issues Ons kenmerk BBR / 14193723 Dear Madam Speaker, Bijlage(n) 1 I wrote to you on Sunday, 23 November 2014 to inform you regarding the regional approach to combat the outbreak of bird flu. The Netherlands has been divided into four regions, with contacts between the regions being kept to a minimum. One of the measures stipulates that broiler chickens may only be transported to a slaughterhouse in the Netherlands that is located within the region. The slaughter capacity in Region C (Oost-Brabant and Limburg) has proved insufficient to be able to slaughter the broiler chickens in this region. Additionally, export to Belgium is currently impeded. Waiting too long before the broiler chickens can be slaughtered also gives rise to welfare issues. I have therefore decided that it will be permitted under strict conditions to transport broilers to designated slaughterhouses in the adjacent region (Region A) for slaughter. This will be subject to the following conditions: The Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) must be notified one day in advance of the vehicles to be used and the farms concerned; The vehicles may only use a designated route (corridor) to travel to the slaughterhouses and back; On days when animals from Region C are being slaughtered, only animals from that region may be brought to the slaughterhouse. Current status of bird flu outbreak in Kamperveen An outbreak of bird flu was confirmed on 21 November 2014 at a poultry farm in Kamperveen. The farm was therefore cleared of livestock. Two further poultry farms are located within a radius of 1 km of the infected farm in Kamperveen. As a precautionary measure, preventive clearance of these farms has been carried out. At one of these farms, an H5 variant of avian influenza was Pagina 1 van 2 Bureau Bestuursraad Ons kenmerk BBR / 14193723 found in ducks. Tests have confirmed that this is also the highly pathogenic H5N8 strain of the virus. (p.p.) Sharon A.M. Dijksma Minister for Agriculture Pagina 2 van 2