Cobb Herveld wins Dutch compartment status

Cobb’s pedigree breeding complex at Herveld in the Netherlands has been awarded compartment status by the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Authority (NVWA) this month.

The facility, which is the European hub for Cobb research and development, is the latest location to be added to the company’s growing list of global facilities that have achieved compartment status.

This allows international trade to continue without interruption following an outbreak of avian influenza.

The Herveld complex has recently seen a major $19m (€15m) investment to more than double its capacity to expand the scope and speed of development of the Cobb500.

Comprehensive auditing

Neeltje van Horen, Cobb Europe senior supervisor of facilities, said: “We began working on the project to achieve compartment status in 2016. Every aspect of the facilities and our procedures were subjected to comprehensive auditing by the NVWA.

“For a facility such as ours to achieve and maintain compartment status, our levels of biosecurity, operating procedures, separation and surveillance must be at the very highest standard.

“It was crucial we demonstrated that the complete farm facility is effectively separated from the rest of the country’s poultry industry, and that all potential risks are assessed and managed through necessary control measures.”

The World Organisation for Animal Health introduced the concept of compartmentalisation in 2004 to recognise businesses operating at such high standards of biosecurity that they can ensure all their facilities remain disease-free even in the event of a notifiable disease in the country.

Mijndert Heineke, Cobb senior pedigree manager at Herveld, added: “We are extremely proud of all the work and joint efforts of our whole team at Herveld that helped us achieve this outstanding recognition. Through continued investment in education and training all their hard work has been rewarded.”