Outbreak of Avian Flu hits Canadian imports
By Canadian Packaging staff
Food Safety General 2015 avian flu Canada avian flu turkey farm avian fluLatest outbreak sees three Asian markets ban Canadian birds.
It’s Flu Season – Avian Flu Season – in Canada. Again.
Canadian poultry takes it on the chin once again thanks to a bird flu outbreak at a turkey farm in Ontario.
While steps are being taken by the CFIA (Canadian Food Inspection Agency) to contain the spread of the H5 avian bird flu, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan have immediately banned the importation of poultry and poultry products from Canada.
Taiwan and Japan export 1.6% of its poultry from Canada.
This latest group banning extends a previously established ban on poultry from British Columbia established by 10 other countries earlier in 2015.
Hong Kong’s ban includes Ontario and two counties in Minnesota where bird flu was confirmed a couple of days ago.
The CFIA says that 7.500 birds at the afflicted poultry farm have already died, with a further 4,500 to be put down.
The CFIA is looking to perform tests to determine what strain of H5 avian flu has attacked the birds.
Image above: Colorized transmission electron micrograph of Avian influenza A H5N1 viruses (seen in gold) grown in MDCK cells (seen in green). Avian influenza A viruses do not usually infect humans; however, several instances of human infections and outbreaks have been reported since 1997. When such infections occur, public health authorities monitor these situations closely.
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