Taiwan and Hong Kong ban Dutch poultry imports
Taiwan and Hong Kong have banned all poultry imports from the Netherlands after a mild strain of bird flu was found on a farm there.
Taiwan imports chicks from the Netherlands for breeding and genetic modification but does not import frozen poultry. Hong Kong imported 7,000 tonnes of frozen poultry from the Netherlands last year.
The Dutch agriculture ministry said Tuesday it had detected traces of the mildly pathogenic H7 strain of bird flu on a farm in the central Netherlands. The discovery was made when mandatory routine testing was undertaken.
Tests are being carried out to determine the potential danger of the strain.
The Netherlands is a world top poultry exporter and Europe’s second biggest producer after France.
The country was hit by the H7N7 avian flu strain in 2003, leading to the culling of around 30 million birds, about a third of the Dutch poultry flock.
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