March 1, 2006

US bans poultry from France

The United States announced Monday it would ban poultry and live bird shipments from a region of France where lethal bird flu was found.

The outbreak in France's Ain region, reported last week, is the European Union's first case of the deadly H5N1 virus in commercial flocks. The virus was found at a farm of more than 11,000 turkeys in southeastern France.

US authorities had been saying that cooking kills the virus and it is safe to eat properly handled and cooked poultry. Nevertheless, it has banned imports from countries where the lethal strain of bird flu was found.

The Agriculture Department said the ban on French poultry and birds will apply only to those from state of Ain, not the whole country.

Other countries, such as Japan and Hong Kong, have suspended imports of all French poultry.