Mainland Poultry chief executive John McKay said yesterday support was in place for staff who needed it and he had "great confidence" the virus could be eradicated.
He said testing was under way across all the company’s South Island farms but at this stage there were no signs of illness or any reason for concern at any site other than Mainland Poultry’s egg farm at Hillgrove, near Moeraki, which remained in lockdown yesterday.
The company was working with biosecurity officials to try to stop the spread of the H7N6 subtype of avian influenza confirmed to be present at the farm after testing at the weekend, Mr McKay said.
About 80,000 birds were due to be culled humanely from today to "eradicate the current outbreak and the ensure the virus is eliminated".
"Understandably, this is a really tough time for our people," Mr McKay said.
"They all care deeply for the birds and spend their professional lives looking after them.
"To know birds must be culled due to illness is deeply upsetting.
"We are providing workplace support to all staff as required in recognition of that."
The company was working with the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) to understand the spread of the virus and know which sheds on the farm were affected, Mr McKay said.
The normally free-range flocks at the farm were all being kept in sheds as a preventive measure until the extent of the outbreak was known, he said.
While testing was under way across the South Island, the priority was to get full test results for the Hillgrove farm.
Animal welfare was always a top priority, but in light of the outbreak staff were being "extra vigilant" and monitoring the entire flock for illness or distress, he said.
"We want to reassure the public that there is no risk to human health and no food safety issue around the safe consumption of cooked eggs or poultry.
"We also want New Zealanders to know that we are committed to looking after the birds and the people in our care to the very best of our ability."
"The remote farm remains under strict biosecurity controls to restrict the movement of birds, poultry products, feed and equipment on or off the property," Mr Anderson said.
"The detection of further positive cases on the farm is not unexpected given the nature of the virus."
Mr Anderson said the birds would be humanely culled with the farmer’s co-operation from today in order to prevent the spread of avian flu, which could lead to further bird deaths and a drop in egg production.
"This is expected to take two to three days, using existing industry standard practice of CO2 containerised gas, which farms regularly use to euthanise chickens.
"At present, there will be no major impact on egg supplies as New Zealand has about 3.9 million layer hens a year."
In the meantime, all poultry exports are on hold.
Mainland Poultry operates three other sites in Otago, including its Waikouaiti site, which is one of the largest poultry farms in the country.
All four farms lie within a 25km radius.
Mr Anderson was on site at Hillgrove yesterday to observe operations.
"We acknowledge this is an extremely difficult time for the farm’s operator, but we commend their actions.
"Mainland Poultry took the right steps by notifying us of sick and dying birds.
"The farm has strong biosecurity standards.
"Three specialist veterinarians from the Ministry for Primary Industries are on site."
The farm has four sheds with about 160,000 birds in total.
MPI chief veterinary officer Mary van Andel said it was prepared to take measures "across all of those sheds if it is required".
- By Matthew Littlewood and staff reporters
