Sofia, March 29 (IANS) The Bulgarian Food Safety Agency (BFSA) has reported an outbreak of the highly pathogenic bird flu at an industrial farm.

The virus was detected on a farm with 86,000 laying hens near the village of Tsalapitsa, nearly 130 km southeast of the capital Sofia, the agency said on Thursday in a statement.

In order to contain the disease and prevent its spread, the infected birds and those in touch with them on the farm would be culled, the BFSA added as quoted by Xinhua news agency report.

According to the agency's website, this was the eighth bird flu outbreak at an industrial farm in Bulgaria this year.