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China's ban on US poultry, eggs unwarranted, says trade group
CHINA is to ban all imports of US poultry and egg products after detecting a highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) strain in backyard poultry and wild birds in the Pacific Northwest, according to media reports.
From January through November last year US exports to China reached US$272 million with China being a major export market for US chicken, turkey and duck products.
"There's absolutely no justification for China to take such a drastic action," said president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USA PEEC) Jim Sumner. "In fact, these isolated and remote incidents are hundreds if not thousands of miles away from major poultry and egg production areas."
The ban is in response to December detection of H5N8 influenza in wild birds and in a backyard flock of guinea hens and chickens in Oregon, along with separate H5N2 HPA1 detections in wild birds in California and Washington state.
China's Ministry of Agriculture and General Administration for Quality Supervision imposed the restrictions despite assurances by the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that the influenza virus has not been found in any commercial poultry flock in the US.
Said USA PEEC: "For China to impose a nationwide ban in response to isolated incidents of HPAI goes against international guidelines established by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
"In its Terrestrial Animal Health Code, the OIE recommends that countries adopt a regionalised approach to HPAI incidents to minimise the impact on trade."
Mr Sumner said banning all US poultry and eggs would hurt China's domestic poultry industry. "Since the ban also includes US breeding stock, China is cutting off its industry's main source of hatching eggs and chicks, which will curtail the industry's ability to replenish and maintain its production."
From January through November last year US exports to China reached US$272 million with China being a major export market for US chicken, turkey and duck products.
"There's absolutely no justification for China to take such a drastic action," said president of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council (USA PEEC) Jim Sumner. "In fact, these isolated and remote incidents are hundreds if not thousands of miles away from major poultry and egg production areas."
The ban is in response to December detection of H5N8 influenza in wild birds and in a backyard flock of guinea hens and chickens in Oregon, along with separate H5N2 HPA1 detections in wild birds in California and Washington state.
China's Ministry of Agriculture and General Administration for Quality Supervision imposed the restrictions despite assurances by the US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that the influenza virus has not been found in any commercial poultry flock in the US.
Said USA PEEC: "For China to impose a nationwide ban in response to isolated incidents of HPAI goes against international guidelines established by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE).
"In its Terrestrial Animal Health Code, the OIE recommends that countries adopt a regionalised approach to HPAI incidents to minimise the impact on trade."
Mr Sumner said banning all US poultry and eggs would hurt China's domestic poultry industry. "Since the ban also includes US breeding stock, China is cutting off its industry's main source of hatching eggs and chicks, which will curtail the industry's ability to replenish and maintain its production."
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