Vietnam has decided to halt imports of poultry products from the U.S. from March 10 following news of poultry epidemic outbreaks there, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Vietnam has decided to halt imports of poultry products from the U.S. from March 10 following news of poultry epidemic outbreaks there, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The ministry last Friday issued Decision 686/QĐ-BNN-TY suspending imports of unprocessed poultry meat from the American states of Wisconsin and Tennessee where several strains of the bird flu virus have been reportedly found.
Meanwhile, a couple of markets in Asia namely Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China, and Taiwan on March 6 and 7 announced to stop importing live poultry and poultry meat from the two states hit by the bird flu outbreaks.
Therefore, the country’s decision to suspend poultry imports from the U.S. was a few days later than the countries in the region.
After bird flu outbreaks were reported in China on February 17, the ministry has quickly asked provincial governments nationwide to strengthen the monitoring of the H7N9 strain of the bird flu virus, and other virulent strains that can spread to Vietnam.
According to a source from the Department of Animal Health under the ministry, the country had discovered six H5N1 bird-flu outbreaks, and the H5N6 strain of avian flu in six provinces as of March 10.
The price of chicken on the domestic market has continuously declined, resulting from bird flu in recent times. Since the end of last month, prices of white-feathered chicken in Dong Nai Province have stood at VND15,000 to VND18,000 a kilo, causing huge losses to many farm owners.
(Source:SGT)
