Japan has reported an outbreak of severe bird flu on an egg farm in the northern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health says.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu, killed 46 birds on the farm located in the town of Shiraoi on Hokkaido island, Paris-based WOAH said, citing a report from Japanese authorities.

The report did not say how many birds were in the flock nor give details about the type of bird flu virus.

The spread of bird flu has raised concerns among governments and the poultry industry after it killed or led to the culling of hundreds of millions of poultry in recent years, disrupting supply, fuelling higher food prices and raising the risk of a new pandemic.

Authorities in the Netherlands will cull about 161,000 chickens at a poultry farm in the central-eastern region of the country after bird flu was detected there, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.

A transport ban is in place within a 10km radius of the affected farm, affecting 26 poultry farms in the area, the government said.

Last week, the Dutch Agriculture Ministry issued a country-wide order to poultry farms to keep their birds inside and it also banned bird shows.