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Canada Halts All Poultry Imports From California Due To Disease

An outbreak of Exotic Newcastle Disease in California poultry has caused Canada to cease all imports from California for two weeks. Mexican officials are considering a similar ban for their country.

California agriculture officials say they have ordered more than 1 million chickens destroyed as a result. But these measures have not been sufficient to convince Canadian or Mexican officials that California is controlling the spread of the disease.

The outbreak was discovered last September in backyard chicken flocks in Los Angeles County; other counties affected by the disease include Ventura, Riverside and San Bernardino. 

The virus responsible for Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) causes extensive livestock mortality and is viscerotropic, meaning it affects numerous organ systems in the infected birds. Exposed flocks may undergo up to 90 percent mortality, depending on the degree of protection afforded by previous vaccinations.

California Poultry Federation officials are upset with the import bans by Canada and Mexico. The officials believe the disease has only affected poultry products from the six southern-most counties of California, and they have been pushing for the bans to be modified to specify only poultry from those limited areas.

California is trying to prevent a repeat of the statewide outbreak of the disease that occurred in the 1970s, which ultimately threatened the entire poultry and egg supply in the U.S. and led officials to destroy nearly 12 million chickens. The estimated economic losses for U.S. poultry farmers and the industry totaled $56 million.