Following the confirmation of avian influenza in the Northeastern U.S., South Korea has banned U.S. imports of poultry for 21 days. Meatingplace reports that Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan imposed narrower bans after the H5N8 strain was found in a backyard flock in Oregon. Korea is trying to manage its own bird flu outbreak, which has also affected 18 countries this year alone. South Korea imported more than 63,000 metric tons of poultry meat from United States in the first 11 months of 2014. However, industry experts say Oregon is not a poultry exporting state.
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. U.S. officials have stressed that no commercial birds have been affected by the avian flu outbreak anywhere in the United States and USDA and Oregon officials continue to monitor the situation.
Source: NAFB News Service