Egg shortages in supermarkets due to the bird flu outbreak have Hunter producers on edge, while a deadly strain could arrive in spring and threaten the region's wild birds.
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The NSW government's biggest concern was that the virus could seriously hit supplies of eggs and chicken.
"This is an emergency situation," one official said.
"We are reliant on large production centres for eggs and meat production. If it gets into those, that's where we've got to pay attention."
The outbreak led Coles and Woolworths to introduce two-carton buying limits on eggs, amid concerns about supply and panic-buying.
And experts have warned that the deadly H5N1 avian influenza strain could enter Australia in spring with the bird migration season.
However, University of Newcastle Professor Nathan Bartlett said the chances of the virus spreading between humans was "a very low risk at the moment".
"H5N1 is highly pathogenic avian influenza. That's the one currently causing huge levels of deaths in wild birds in Antarctica," he said.
"It's capable of jumping into mammals. It's been getting into dairy cows in the US, but there's no record of it being transmitted from human to human."
Professor Bartlett, a virologist, said "all the documented cases of H5N1 in humans have occurred in people who have very high exposure to infected birds".
"That's usually people slaughtering chickens or ducks."
On Monday, the Invasive Species Council urged Australian governments to urgently "ramp up preparations for bird flu in wildlife".
Dr Carol Booth, a species council analyst, said the virus was killing porpoises, dolphins and otters in South America, "as well as at least 650,000 native birds".
She said the strain could have "catastrophic impacts on our native birds" in Australia.
The strains being detected in poultry in Australia are not H5N1, but they are causing serious concern.
An outbreak detected on two farms in the Hawkesbury region in the past month led to about 327,000 chickens being euthanised.
The NSW Department of Primary Industries established a biosecurity zone in the area.
In Victoria, more than 1 million chickens have been destroyed due to the virus.
Slow Food Hunter Valley secretary Anne Kelly said local free-range egg producers were "a bit worried about the migrating birds coming through the Hunter" in spring.
"Everyone is concerned about a biosecurity risk because it can be devastating for farmers," Ms Kelly said.
Big egg producers at Port Stephens and Lake Macquarie had "tens of thousands of chooks", an industry insider said.
The Newcastle Herald contacted two big producers, but they did not comment.
Another industry insider said the region had a lot of jobs in the poultry sector.
"The Hunter Valley used to be the largest poultry growing area in NSW 15 years ago."
Major poultry meat-growing regions in NSW include the Hunter, Central Coast, New England, Riverina and Western Sydney.
Hunter Valley Chicken and Game owner Keith Moss said he wasn't concerned about chicken supply.
"It [bird flu] is always around and in the wild bird population. There's always been quarantine farms around, even when I was a kid," Mr Moss said.
His Mount Hutton business sells chicken meat and free-range eggs.
"My egg supplier's getting a little bit tight, but it's not drying up," he said.
