Mycotoxins kill 7,000 chickens in Russia

Local media Amur Info reported that products from this poultry producers have disappeared from markets shelves. Representatives of Rosselkhoznadzor, which receive monthly reports from the company, believe that the chicken deaths were caused by poor-quality feed.

"At the end of the year the poultry received stale feed. Quite simply, Penicillium – fungi was prensent in the feed, which produces mycotoxins, and extremely dangerous for both animals and humans. This is a virulent poison, " explained Olga Atavina, deputy chief of management of Rosselkhoznadzor for the Zabaikalye Territory and Amur Oblast. “Perhaps these mycotoxins undermined the chicken immune system,” she added.

According to experts, the feed killed about 7,000 of the company’s poultry.  Meat from the sick animals did not end up on shop-shelves, the officials added. However, the owners of the stricken poultry farms denied that the chickens died due to mycotoxin poisoning. According to them the underlying cause could be the new equipment installed at a chicken farm. According to the representatives of the company the decrease in the production rate was due to the recent reconstruction of the maternity area on the farm.