Russia bans Hungarian poultry imports due to bird flu

Moscow, March 4 (MTI) – Russia on Wednesday imposed a temporary ban on Hungarian poultry products treated at lower temperatures than 70 C, citing recent reports of bird flu in the country.

Russia’s ban will impact a few thousand tonnes of mostly duck and goose products, Attila Csorbai, head of the Hungarian poultry product council, told MTI.

The Hungarian food health authority identified the deadly H5N8 virus in samples from a farm in south-eastern Hungary’s Békés county in late February. The virus has not yet been communicated to humans.

A few days ago over 100,000 ducks were slaughtered at a poultry farm in Füzesgyarmat. The farm’s entire stock was eliminated, Hungary’s chief veterinarian, Lajos Bognár, said on Monday. No other cases of the infection have been found in the region, he added.

A thirty-day ban on poultry shipments from the region remains in force, the chief veterinarian said.

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters