PARIS: A new outbreak of bird flu hit France’s foie gras producers on Friday just as a ban on exports outside Europe was about to be lifted in time for the crucial holiday period.
The agriculture ministry said the outbreak of the “highly pathogenic” H5N8 strain of the virus was detected Thursday on a duck farm in the southwestern Tarn region, the heart of the lucrative, though controversial, foie gras industry. Exports outside the European Union had been suspended after an outbreak a year ago, and producers were waiting for the green light.
