South Korea has banned all U.S. poultry imports
for 21 days because H5N8 avian influenza was identified in a backyard flock of
about 100 quail and chicken in Winston, Ore.
Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan imposed narrower
bans, according to Jim Sumner, president of the USA Poultry and Egg Export
Council.
Korea is trying to manage its own bird flu
outbreak, which has also affected 18 countries this year alone.
British Columbia is a hotbed with outbreaks at
11 sites in the Fraser Valley. More than 250,000 turkeys, broilers and
hatching-egg chickens have either died or been euthanized.
South Korea imported more than 63,000 tonnes of
poultry meat from United States in the first 11 months of 2014, ranking it as a
major customer.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s Center for Food Safety
imposed a specific ban covering poultry imports from Douglas County, Oregon,
where the outbreak among a small backyard flock with exposure to wild birds was
discovered.
Hong Kong imported about 220,000 tons of frozen
poultry meat from the United States between January and October, according to
the Shanghai
Daily.
Canada is in a similar trading ban situation with some countries limiting their trading bans to poultry from British Columbia, but most imposing a national ban.
That has been a huge challenge for breeding companies that depend on exports, including Hybrid Turkeys of Kitchener and the former Shaver Poultry Breeding operation at Cambridge.
