The U.S. and other trading partners are blocking imports of chicken from Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador after avian flu outbreaks
By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com
Multiple trading partners have placed bans or restrictions on imports of Canadian poultry following avian flu outbreaks in two Atlantic provinces.
South Korea and the Philippines, for example, put restrictions on live poultry, meat and eggs originating from Canada.
And South Africa will only accept poultry products packaged before Jan. 17, 2022.
“At this time, some countries have applied temporary restrictions with variable implications on products and regions in Canada, primarily limited to the export of some poultry products from Nova Scotia,” the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said in a Feb. 14 release.
These restrictions come after the CFIA confirmed multiple cases of H5N1 in Nova Scotia.
The most recent CFIA confirmation came on Feb. 11.
The first occurred on Feb. 3.
After the Feb. 3 confirmation, the CFIA notified the World Organisation for Animal Health about the finding.
This resulted in Canada’s health status being changed to “Not Free” from the disease, which led to the trade restrictions.
About 12,000 turkeys on the farm died. The virus killed roughly half of the flock while the rest were culled to minimize spread.
Import restrictions from other countries only target poultry from Nova Scotia.
The United States, European Union, Mexico, Russia, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong aren’t currently accepting poultry products from Nova Scotia.
Nova Scotia’s department of natural resources and renewables also reported a Canada goose in the Grand Desert area of Halifax tested positive for avian flu on Jan. 28.
Birds in Newfoundland and Labrador are also testing positive for avian flu.
On Jan. 9, the CFIA confirmed bird at a farm in the Avalon Peninsula tested positive for H5N1.
This follows a Dec. 20, 2021 confirmation that a bird from a different farm in the same region tested positive for H5N1.
Some countries with restrictions on Nova Scotia poultry have placed import restrictions on poultry from Newfoundland and Labrador. But the province doesn’t export poultry to any of those jurisdictions.