Bulgaria: Bird flu outbreak confirmed on two farms
The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) has confirmed an outbreak of avian influenza type A in birds in the Haskovo region. The virus was found in two breeding facilities for laying hens in the village of Krivo Pole, Haskovo municipality.
An order has been issued to take measures to control the outbreak. The plan is to humanely kill the sick and contact birds in the sites and dispose of the corpses under official supervision, and in a way that prevents the spread of the disease, the agency specified.
A three-kilometre protection zone was set up around the affected livestock site, which includes three villages from Haskovo municipality, and a 10-kilometre surveillance zone covering nine villages from Haskovo municipality, two villages from Harmanli municipality and eight villages from Stambolovo municipality.
The authorities are carrying out epizootic research and tracking the movements of poultry and other birds, eggs, products and animal by-products derived from them, fodder for birds, and vehicles related to the technological process in the sites, the announcement adds.
New director appointed at Bulgarian Food Safety Agency
Hristo Daskalov has been appointed the new executive director at the Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) .
Daskalov graduated from the Moscow Veterinary Academy. He has 35 years of professional experience as a scientist and expert in the field of food safety and control, biology, and diseases of aquatic organisms. He has many specializations abroad and has been the head of a number of research projects. For the last ten years, he has been the Head of the National Centre of Food Safety at the BFSA.
He was Deputy Chairman of the National Centre for Agrarian Science from May 2015 to April 2017.
He has taught at Sofia University, the University of Forestry, and the Thracian University. He is a lecturer in the EU's Training for Safer Food programme.
Source: BTA