The Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has issued an interim rule that, effective 24 January, prohibits or restricts the importation of bird and poultry products from regions where any subtype of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI, or bird flu) is considered to exist. The new restrictions cover bird and poultry products from mainland China and Hong Kong as well as Afghanistan, Albania, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Djibouti, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Palestinian Autonomous Territories, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Sudan, Thailand, Togo, Turkey, Ukraine and Vietnam. While previous import restrictions were limited to regions where the more dangerous H5N1 strain of HPAI had been deemed to exist, APHIS indicates that it had already been applying a de facto ban on imports from regions with any HPAI subtype because all foreign regions where HPAI is considered to exist are also regions where exotic Newcastle disease is considered to exist. The separate import restrictions for regions with any HPAI subtype will allow APHIS to better protect against the introduction of END and HPAI and allow the agency to remove countries from one disease list but keep them on the other list if necessary.
Regions will be added to this list immediately after APHIS receives reports of outbreaks in commercial birds or poultry from veterinary officials of the national government of the region and/or the World Organisation for Animal Health. A region will be removed only after APHIS completes an evaluation, makes it available for public comment through a notice published in the Federal Register and responds to any comments received.
Under the new regulations, carcasses of game birds, if eviscerated with head and feet removed, may be imported from regions where END is considered to exist but may not be imported from regions where any HPAI subtype is deemed to exist. Carcasses or parts or products of carcasses, including meat, of poultry, game birds or other birds may be imported from END/HPAI regions if packed in hermetically sealed containers and if cooked by a commercial method after such packing to produce articles that are shelf stable without refrigeration. Additionally, carcasses and parts or products of carcasses may be imported if they are accompanied by a certificate that is signed by a full-time, salaried veterinarian of the government agency responsible for animal health in the region and that specifies that the articles were cooked throughout to reach a minimum internal temperature of 74oC (165oF).
APHIS has also replaced the previous prohibition on the importation of birds that had been vaccinated for END with a prohibition on imports of live poultry, birds (including hatching eggs) and ratites that have been vaccinated for any H5 or H7 subtype of avian influenza. Furthermore, APHIS has banned the importation of live birds and poultry that transit regions where HPAI of any subtype is considered to exist because there could be significant risks of these animals contracting HPAI en route to the United States.
APHIS is seeking comments by 25 March on various issues associated with this interim rule, including other possible changes that could improve the effectiveness of APHIS programmes to prevent the introduction into the U.S. of HPAI, END and other poultry diseases.
