EU Bans Canadian Poultry Imports

BRUSSELS - Mar 11/04 - SNS -- The European Union has instituted a complete ban on Canadian poultry and poultry products following the confirmation of a highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) outbreak in British Columbia (Canada).

EU Health and Consumer Protection Commissioner David Byrne said imports of live poultry, poultry meat and products, eggs and pet birds will be clocked from Canada until April 6. Avian influenza is a highly contagious poultry disease that can cause severe economic damage to the poultry industry and can, in exceptional cases, be transmitted to humans.

On March 9, Canadian authorities confirmed an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) in a poultry flock in the province of British Columbia. The detected AI virus strain is different from the strain currently causing the epidemic in Asia and probably poses inferior public health risk to the Asian one.

The subscriber version of the article is available by Clicking here