France has reported three outbreaks of low pathogenic H5N3 bird flu in three farms in the southwestern part of the country, the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) said, citing the French agriculture ministry.

The French farm ministry said the strain found in two farms in the Landes department and one in the Pyrenees-Atlantiques was low pathogenic and found as part of national surveillance following other outbreaks in the region.

"There is no risk for human health and no impact on our management of the crisis," a ministry official said.

France, the European Union's largest agriculture producer, has been facing cases of bird flu since late last month involving three highly pathogenic strains H5N1, H5N2 and H5N9.

The emergence of three different highly pathogenic strains in such a short time is unprecedented, the OIE said last week, adding that one hypothesis was that low pathogenic strains had evolved into high pathogenic ones.

The French farm minister said on Monday these strains had no risk of spreading to humans and stressed the virus cannot be transmitted through food, encouraging people to eat foie gras, produced mostly in the affected regions, over the year-end holiday season.