Hungarian poultry exports restricted over bird flu fears

Several of Hungary's non-EU trading partners have banned imports of Hungarian poultry following multiple outbreaks of avian influenza (bird flu), the Hungarian National Bureau of Food Chain Safety announced Thursday.

South Africa, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Canada and Serbia were included in the partners.

Canada has only halted imports from the one county where outbreaks have been reported, while Serbia has put a ban in place over a 50 km-radius from each of the outbreaks.

The disease is being spread by migrating birds, which have stopped to feed alongside poultry flocks.

While the flu version H5N8 has never been diagnosed in humans, chief veterinarian Lajos Bognar has ordered poultry farmers to feed their stock indoors and store all poultry feed in covered containers. Birds on infected farms have been culled.

On Thursday, Bognar told a meeting of the Poultry Produce Council that the authorities were doing everything in their power to provide farmers with detailed information on how to avoid contamination and what to do should the virus appear.

He voiced hope that non-EU partners would soon end their bans. Endit