January 14, 2015
China bans all US poultry and egg products
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced on Monday that China has banned all imports of US poultry, poultry products and eggs in view of the recent detections of highly pathogenic strains of avian influenza in the Pacific Northwest.
All related products that are currently being shipped to China will be destroyed or shipped back to the United States, said the US Department of Agriculture and the US Poultry Egg Export Council (USA Poultry & Egg Export Council).
The ban which is put in place with effective from January 8 onwards, also applies to poultry breeding stock, such as live chicks and hatching eggs.
According to James Sumner, President of the USA Poultry & Egg Export Council, 90% of the world's poultry breeding stock comes from the United States, and by imposing a nationwide ban that includes breeding stock, China could be hurting its domestic poultry industry.