Dive Brief:
- The USDA reports that China has banned U.S. chicken and eggs imports, citing concerns about avian flu contamination.
- The ban follows news that two strains of avian flu were found in the U.S., specifically Washington and Oregon.
- No U.S. commercial poultry has been identified as carrying either strain, and no human cases associated with the two avian flu strains have been reported.
Dive Insight:
China has banned poultry livestock as well, including live chicks and hatching eggs, so this move could actually negatively affect the country's domestic poultry industry as well. CEO of Global AgriTrends Brett Stuart told Reuters, "This move is somewhat hypocritical as there have been zero findings of high pathogenic avian influenza in a commercial poultry flock in the U.S. and, China already has a variety of avian influenza strains."
This is just the latest in a string of announcements by 30 different countries, all of whom have restricted U.S. poultry exports from Oregon and Washington.
China's new ban echoes a previous halt of poultry imports from Arkansas and a few other states in 2013.