February 5, 2004

US Ban Poultry Imports From Asia

The USDA announced a temporary ban on imports of poultry products from Asian countries hit with the bird flu virus.

The temporary ban is largely a symbolic gesture and will have ''little impact'' on shipments because the United States already prohibits most poultry from Asia due to another ailment known as exotic Newcastle disease, said Jim Rogers, a spokesman for the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Poultry meat is generally not imported from Asia because the USDA has not approved Asia's poultry meat processing plants.

Joseph Vantiem, a senior staff veterinarian with the USDA, told reporters the new ban was for ''plugging any holes that may exist'' in shipments from Asia. The poultry products of most concern were feather products that were not already restricted by the ban for exotic Newcastle disease, he said.

Vantiem and USDA experts on animal diseases met in suburban Washington, D.C. to discuss the Asian bird flu outbreak as well as the recent case of mad cow disease discovered in Washington state.

The death toll from Asia's outbreak of bird flu, or H5N1 avian virus, has risen to 15 as the virus ravaged poultry flocks in 10 countries. Most of the deaths have been attributed to direct contact with infected fowl, like a Thai boy who was at the scene when his grandfather killed chickens.

Thailand is the world's fourth biggest chicken exporter and has seen its shipments halted by most importing nations.

An outbreak of a related strain of bird flu in the northeastern United States in 1983 and 1984 forced more than 17 million birds to be destroyed, the USDA said. That incident also caused retail egg prices to soar by more than 30 percent.