CHICAGO — The United States has suspended imports of live and raw poultry from the Canadian province of British Columbia because of an outbreak of bird flu virus, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s chief veterinary officer told Reuters on Monday.
The restrictions began Dec. 4, the same day Canada identified the virus as a “highly pathogenic” H5N2 strain, said John Clifford, the USDA’s chief veterinarian.
“It’s a temporary ban,” Clifford said in a telephone interview, adding the ban likely will last several months.
Bird flu, or avian influenza, is an infectious viral disease of birds. Most bird flu viruses do not infect humans or pose safety risks when poultry products are properly handled and cooked.
Canada’s chief veterinary officer, Harpreet Kochhar, said Monday the United States restricted imports of British Columbia birds and hatching eggs, poultry meat, eggs and egg products and animal byproducts.
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency said five British Columbia farms were infected with avian influenza, killing 80,000 turkeys and chickens so far. The birds on the farms that survived the flu are being destroyed.
The USDA does not “see any current risk to human health” in the United States because of the outbreak, Clifford said. The department is evaluating whether to dispatch an employee to Canada to take part in the response, he added.
“(Canada) invited us last week to send somebody if we wanted to,” Clifford said.
British Columbia exported live fowl and poultry products to the United States worth $5.8 million in Canadian, or $5.05 million in the U.S., in 2013, according to Statistics Canada.
Canada and Chile are the two biggest suppliers of imported poultry to the United States, said Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council in Washington, D.C., while noting that 99 percent of the chicken eaten in the United States is hatched, raised and processed in the country.
“In the grand scheme of total consumption, products from those countries are miniscule,” Super said.
Ray Nickel, president of the B.C. Poultry Association, said farmers in the province mainly grow turkeys and chickens for domestic buyers.
South Korea, Hong Kong, South Africa, Mexico, Taiwan and Japan also have imposed varying bans on Canadian poultry products because of the outbreak.
Kochhar said officials established restrictions on movement of captive birds, poultry products and feed within a zone around the infected farms.