BEIJING 1 October ?China has banned all poultry shipments from Canada according to China Daily, the country’s official newspaper.
The paper, quoting Xinhua news agency, said Beijing imposed the ban on all poultry imports from Canada shipped after 23 September to ward off what it called the deadly H7N3 avian influenza virus.
“They are rather strict on imported products,?a Singapore-based China Shipping Agencies official told Fairplay.
China’s hardline attitude, he said, is due to its deeply sensitive nature over its international image, and a spread of the virus into the country’s farming and poultry industry would hurt its exports.
The decision by the Ministry of Agriculture and the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine to impose the ban follows an outbreak alert issued by the World Organisation for Animal Health, confirming a highly pathogenic virus in a chicken broiler breeder flock in Canada’s Saskatchewan province.
As a precautionary move, Beijing is reportedly sealing up all Canadian poultry transported by ships, trains and airplanes that either stop in or transit in China.