...South Korea (click here) has suspended imports of U.S. poultry and poultry products because of an outbreak of bird flu in the United States, the Agriculture Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
The suspension, from Saturday, comes as South Korea is struggling to contain its own outbreak of bird flu in birds.
"This import suspension is a quarantine measure to prevent the HPAI virus from entering the country," the ministry statement said, referring to highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus.
The ministry said 18 countries including South Korea had been hit by the HPAI virus this year. South Korea has had no human cases.
Avian flu is an infectious viral disease of birds. Most bird flu viruses do not infect humans, but some have caused serious infections in humans.
Two strains of avian influenza - H5N2 and H5N8 - have been confirmed in wild birds in Washington state, near the U.S. border with Canada, but there was no immediate cause for public health concerns, U.S. agriculture officials said on Wednesday.
Neither virus has been found in U.S. commercial poultry.
South Korea's imports from the United States in the first 11 months of the year included 63,245 tonnes of poultry meat and 264,000 chicks, according to ministry data.
The ministry said the import suspension would not cause a shortage as domestic poultry meat supply is projected to rise by 17.5 percent to 67,000 tonnes this month from a year earlier on top of 9,000 tonnes in inventory.
There is a chance the virus actually arrived to the USA and Canada with some of the large storms that have come across the Pacific from Asia. That is one potential source. If that is the cause, the virus won't stop infecting this wildlife until it is wiped out in Asia.
December 21, 2014
By Jane Deason
The avian flu virus (click here) infecting B.C. poultry farms is a North American first, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency has confirmed.
The strain, a highly pathogenic form of H5N2, contains gene segments from the Eurasian H5N8 virus — which marks the first time this lineage has caused a bird flu outbreak in poultry in North America.
The finding is significant because of its ability to cause high mortality among infected birds, reports the CFIA. More than half of the B.C. birds hit with the virus have died, while the rest are humanely euthanized.
Despite quarantines and strict biosecurity protocols at infected sites, a 10th Fraser Valley farm was hit last week, bringing the total number of infected chickens and turkeys to nearly 250,000. The source of the virus and how it has spread between farms remain unknown.
Health officials report that transmission risk to humans remains extremely low if poultry products are cooked and handled properly.
The BC Turkey Farmers association says it’s importing birds from other provinces to meet demand for the Christmas season....
December 21, 2014
By Bloomberg News
The disease known (click here) as bird flu has been found in a “backyard” poultry flock in Oregon, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Friday, adding that there is no immediate public health concern.
Highly pathogenic avian influenza was detected in the flock of about 100 birds, comprised of guinea fowl and chickens, in Winston, Ore., a unit of the USDA said in a statement on its website.
The virus strain is H5N8 and has not been found in commercial poultry anywhere in the United States, the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said. The agency also reported cases this week of virus strains of avian influenza in wild birds in Washington state....
“Birds from the affected backyard flock will not enter the food chain,” the USDA said. “All poultry, poultry products and wild birds are safe to eat as long as they are properly handled and cooked.”
