Johannesburg – South Africa’s Department of Agriculture has approved a special, year-long arrangement with the U.S. that allows for a more dynamic trade response to avian influenza or bird flu outbreaks.
This agreement, publicised in a letter released by the SA Department of Agriculture, empowers the U.S. to manage its internal chicken trade restrictions by state, depending on the presence or absence of bird flu outbreaks.
If there is a highly pathogenic avian influenza or bird flu outbreak, the U.S. will stop exports from a specific state and resume exports when safe.
The agreement allows local importers of essential affordable protein needed by millions of South Africans to access safe chicken with ease and removes onerous paperwork and delays.
Imported affordable proteins are essential for food security in South Africa, where up to 30% of households in some provinces face regular hunger, according to a recent Stats SA release.
Commenting on the agreement on Monday, 16 June 2025, Merlog Foods General Manager Georg Southey, said: “This sensible approach the Department of Agriculture has followed with the U.S. should be replicated with all trusted global trading partners.
“This is especially the case with Brazil, the largest supplier of Mechanically Deboned Meat (MDM) to South Africa.”
Merlog Foods is one of South Africa’s largest importers of chicken and chilled meats and suppliers of local and foreign protein to major retailers and meat processors.
General Manager Southey said many countries that import chicken from Brazil have already implemented a regionalisation process to allow safe imports to continue.
These countries include Japan, Mexico, Cuba, and, notably, neighbouring Namibia.
Southey said if such an agreement were the norm with trusted trading partners, then countries like Denmark and the Netherlands, which are free of bird flu, would have already been allowed to resume imports of affordable protein to South Africa, ensuring continued food security.
Currently, there is a ban on all chicken imports from Brazil despite the bird flu outbreak being in a single state and the fact that about 95% of MDM locally comes from Brazil, sparking looming fears of a hunger crisis.
MDM is widely used in lower-cost protein products required by millions of South Africans for food security such as Vienna sausages and polony.
“For every week that there is a delay in resuming imports from Brazil, we lose another 100 million animal protein meals,” stated Southey.
“I am pleased the Department of Agriculture has taken a proactive step by formally requesting Brazil to provide technical information about its avian influenza outbreak in order to open access to critically needed MDM from most parts of the country unaffected by the disease.
“I understand that the department is balancing their concerns around importing bird influenza while recognising the pressing need to ensure continued access to affordable protein and avoid a looming hunger crisis.”
Southey said Merlog Foods has been advocating for a regionalisation strategy in managing animal disease outbreaks, including avian influenza.
He explained that this internationally accepted approach, endorsed by the World Organisation for Animal Health, allows import restrictions to be applied to specific affected regions facing a zoonotic disease, rather than enacting a ban on an entire country.
Southey said: “I have good reason to believe a regionalisation approach will be enacted as early as next week once Brazil provides relevant information to South African authorities.
“Brazil is a major global poultry exporter and has responded to similar technical requests from other trade partners, including the EU.
“Merlog Foods trusts that when the Brazilian authorities provide the relevant information to South African authorities, the Department of Agriculture will act with speed to prevent a looming shortage of affordable protein needed by millions of people.”
