The committee appointed to look into issues which have arisen regarding the granting of permission for the import
of eggs following health guidelines has recommended that permission should be granted to import an adequate quantity of eggs in March and April, especially considering the possible high demand for biscuit and bakery products during the upcoming Sinhala New Year festival.
This committee was appointed under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister’s Secretary at the meeting of the Cabinet of Ministers on State Expenditure Management held at the Presidential Secretariat on 8. The committee consists of Prime Minister’s Secretary Anura Dissanayake, Cabinet Secretary W.M.D.J. Fernando, Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture Gunadasa Samarasinghe and Secretary of the Ministry of Trade and Commerce and Food Security P.M.B. Attapatthu. The State Trading Corporation has got approval to import eggs from farms in Tamil Nadu which are certified by the Chennai based Animal Quarantine and Inspection Service of the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying as bird flu disease free farms.
The committee has also recommended to take steps to distribute the entire quantity of imported eggs to the biscuit and bakery manufacturing factories that have already received orders without releasing them to the market under the supervision and guidance of the Animal Production and Health Department.