Source: Chris Scott, MEATINGPLACE, 6/15/15


Officials in the Philippines made Nebraska the 14th U.S. state to land on its banned poultry import list and North Carolina suspended the sale and shows of live poultry later this year in response to the U.S. avian influenza outbreak.

The Dept. of Agriculture followed the confirmation of an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Nebraska earlier this month, according to the Philippine news agency Interaksyon.com. The island nation had already banned poultry imports from 13 U.S. states — including poultry meat, eggs, day-old chicks and semen — despite the fact that the Philippines is free of bird flu so far. The Philippines imports about 90 million pounds of chicken and more than 242 million pounds of mechanically deboned poultry meat from U.S. sources each year, according to the report.

Meanwhile, North Carolina has joined the list of states barring the sale or showing of poultry in order to contain the spread of HPAI this fall as wild birds that may be infected move south for the winter. The ban is designed to limit the movement and exposure of live poultry and will launch Aug. 15 and run through Jan. 15, taking out several events, including the N.C. State Fair in October, according to a report from StarNews Media.

Finally, the Daily Livestock Report notes that the expected slowdown of the spread of HPAI with the arrival of warmer weather apparently has arrived, with just one new case in a small flock during the week that ended June 12. USDA reported that there were 2.7 percent fewer laying chickens in inventory in May (about 296 million) and 3.3 percent fewer turkeys overall (out of 237 million) with turkey losses hitting about 7.8 million so far.  

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