February 5, 2004

Trinidad And Tobago Lifts Ban On US Poultry

Trinidad and Tobago has lifted a ban on U.S. poultry exports put in place a year ago to protect against Exotic Newcastle Disease, officials said Wednesday.

The Trinidad government ended the ban Tuesday, the Ministry of Agriculture said.

The first case of the disease, which isn't a threat to humans but paralyzes and kills all species of birds, was detected in egg-laying chicken flocks in California in 2002. The U.S. government spent US$11.5 million to destroy 144,000 birds characterized as game fowl.

The disease was declared eradicated in California in September.

Bans on poultry from the Netherlands and Belgium remain in effect because of the avian influenza, or bird flu, that has affected chickens there, the ministry said. Bird flu is usually harmless to humans but can devastate stocks of domesticated birds.

Trinidad and Tobago, a two-island Caribbean nation of 1.3 million residents, imports little of its poultry supply, with local producers responsible for 95% of the market.