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Three months after the lifting of entry restrictions, the importation of poultry products from California was again banned by the Department of Agriculture
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The temporary ban was reimposed on Nov. 26, and it covers domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs, and semen
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Excluded from the ban are shipments from California that are either in transit, loaded, or accepted into port before US authorities received information, provided they were slaughtered or processed no later than Oct. 11, 2024
Three months after the lifting of entry restrictions, the importation of poultry products from California was again banned by the Department of Agriculture (DA).
The temporary ban was reimposed on Nov. 26 under Memorandum Order No. 54, which covers domestic and wild birds and their products, including poultry meat, day old chicks, eggs, and semen.
The DA was informed by US authorities that an additional outbreak of avian influenza had taken place in California, affecting domestic birds.
With the ban now in place, the DA suspended the processing and evaluation of applications and the issuance of sanitary and phytosanitary import clearances.
Excluded from the ban are shipments from California that are either in transit, loaded, or accepted into port before US authorities received information, provided they were slaughtered or processed no later than Oct. 11, 2024.
Veterinary quarantine officers will stop and seize shipments of these commodities at all major ports.
The DA had previously banned poultry imports from California and South Dakota last August, but lifted the ban after three months.
Under the DA memorandum order, it was noted that the quick spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 in the US. This “necessitates a wider coverage of trade restrictions to prevent the entry of the HPAI virus and protect the health of the local poultry population,” the memo said.
In a related development, the DA also lifted the temporary import ban on poultry and pork products from Minnesota and Sweden, respectively.
