Meeting during the biennial ANUGA food and beverage trade show here, delegates from Argentina, Brazil, China, the European Union, Mexico, Russia, Thailand and the United States approved a charter forming the International Poultry Council (IPC), which will work for the common good of the poultry industry on a worldwide scale, and elected officers to lead the organization. Although not in attendance, the Egyptian Poultry Association also has been accepted as an IPC charter member.

Even though the organization is brand new, the IPC's first order of business will be to launch a campaign to dispel the myriad myths and rumors that have come out of the spreading epidemic of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu, which has killed scores of people in Asia and has spread into Russia and, more recently, Europe.

Included in the charter agreement is a mission statement for the organization, which would improve communication, eliminate misunderstandings and promote cooperation, as well as develop policies in the public and private sector that "support the principles of free trade in accordance with international agreements."

The agreement's list of objectives includes provisions to encourage uniform and science-based international sanitary and marketing standards for poultry, to strengthen ties to international animal disease and food safety organizations such as the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE); Codex Alimentarius, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. to promote technical cooperation among government agencies that oversee trade, and to promote transparency in government policies that affect poultry production and trade.

Under the charter, each country or region would have one seat on the IPC to represent their respective industries. Membership will be open to any national or regional poultry association that represents the majority of the industry in that country or region.

The IPC will meet twice annually and will be governed by an elected board of directors. Delegates chose the IPC's first slate of officers during the charter meeting. They are James Sumner, president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USAPEEC), president; Tage Lysgaard of Denmark, secretary general of the Association of Poultry Processors and Poultry Trade in the EU Countries (AVEC), first vice president; Ricardo Gonzales, Brazilian Poultry Processors Association (ABEF), second vice president; and Cesar de Anda, former president of the Mexican Association of Poultry Producers (UNA), secretary-treasurer.

The newly formed IPC now faces its first challenge with the resurgent bird flu epidemic., IPC President Sumner said that bird flu situation has created a sense of fear and hysteria in many countries that has caused many consumers to refrain from eating poultry. "There's a lot of misinformation in circulation about avian influenza that is helping to fuel the hysteria," he said. "We're concerned that it will cause consumers to refrain from eating poultry meat, even though it is perfectly safe to do so. For this reason, the IPC will move rather quickly to provide factual information about the AI virus to separate myth from reality."

Source: Wattnet - 20th October 2005