WASHINGTON: The US Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has temporarily banned the importation of commercial birds, poultry, research and performing birds, avian hatching eggs and ratites from Ontario, Canada, in an effort to prevent highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) from spreading through America’s commercial poultry industry, the agency said.
The restriction applies to commodities that originated in Ontario, as well as those from elsewhere that have been shipped to Ontario.
These new restrictions were put into action after the diagnosis of HPAI in U.S. commercial poultry. The restrictions may be modified as researchers gather further information about the recent diagnosis.
The US Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Agriculture Programs and Trade liaison will enforce the restrictions on travellers. The CBP no longer grants U.S. entry to unprocessed meat or by-products either originally from Ontario or from elsewhere that were shipped to Ontario.
In addition, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) will not certify any hatching eggs, day-old chicks, live poultry or unprocessed avian products or by-products for exportation if these materials originally came from Ontario.
These additional restrictions were implemented in light of an HPAI agreement between the CFIA and the USDA. The agreement said the two countries will create an immediate quarantine zone and restrict exportation to each other of any avian commodities if there is a sign of an HPAI outbreak in either of the two countries.
