TODAY/CNA-Dec 10
Singapore has suspended the import of raw poultry and poultry products from several regions in countries affected by an outbreak of the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza. These places include four Japanese prefectures — Saga, Ibaraki, Saitama and Kagoshima — as well as several regions in the United States, Canada, France, Belgium and Germany. In circulars to meat and egg traders dated Dec 8, the Singapore Food Agency (SFA) said the temporary restriction was imposed in light of the highly pathogenic avian influenza, commonly called bird flu. Bird flu, which has led to the culling of hundreds of millions of birds in the past years, usually strikes in Europe during autumn and winter. It was also recently detected on farms in Cambodia, Japan and South Korea. Japanese media NHK reported in November that the local government in Saga prefecture would cull about 40,000 birds on an affected farm. According to SFA’s data in 2022, Singapore approved 30 countries as sources of poultry which includes chicken, duck, turkey, goose and quail. Brazil, Malaysia and the United States are Singapore’s top sources of chicken. SFA said in a media statement earlier this year that as part of the accreditation, it assesses the countries to ensure that they have measures in place to make sure that the exported poultry, poultry products and eggs are free of high pathogenicity avian influenza (HPAI). Read more at: https://www.todayonline.com/singapore/singapore-suspends-poultry-imports-regions-japan-us-and-other-countries-hit-bird-flu-outbreak-2322361
