South Korea has stalled the imports of US poultry and poultry meat following new cases of bird flu. This ban comes just two months after the Asian country resumed the shipments.
However, imports of poultry meat treated with heat are not part of the ban.
On 19 November, South Korea had lifted sanction on the import of US poultry and fresh meat - a move that led to import of about 4,500 tons of poultry meat treated with heat and 37,000 chickens ever since then. However, the country had not permitted imports of non-heat treated meat, reported Reuters.
The US is making efforts to restrict the impact of bird flu, which has not yet affected any human life.
South Korea had put a ban on the import of poultry and meat from the US in December 2014 when two strains of the avian influenza H5N2 and H5N8 were discovered in the Washington state, Reuters reported.
The latest move by the Asian country comes only a few days after the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared that it had found a new strain of avian influenza, H7N8, in a turkey farm in the state of Indiana.
Recently, Iraq had banned poultry imports from 24 countries due to the bird flu outbreak in France.
Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Bhutan, China, Egypt, Ghana, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kazakhstan, Laos, Libya, Myanmar, Mexico, Nepal, Niger, North Korea, Palestine, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam were other countries which stopped imports from France.
The Iraq government was quoted by Reuters as saying: "The import of poultry and birds of all kinds ... as well as both types of eggs (table and hatching), feathers and all products that use poultry or their products ... is prohibited."
Last month, France reported an outbreak of highly pathogenic bird flu, the number of which doubled in a week's time. Due to increase in outbreaks, the country stepped up sanitation and imposed restrictions on the movement of poultry from the southwest region. France has reported cases of highly pathogenic strains - H5N1, H5N2 and H5N9 since late November last year.
Image: South Korea stalls US poultry imports. Photo: Courtesy of think4photop/FreeDigitalPhotos.net.
