Russia curbs British poultry imports after bird flu outbreak
Posted: 06 February 2007 0215 hrs

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MOSCOW - Russia is to suspend imports of British poultry products that have not undergone thermic treatment following an outbreak of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus in Britain, Russian officials said Monday.

Starting Tuesday "the Russian food monitoring agency will temporarily suspend imports from Britain to Russia... of all types of poultry production that have not undergone thermic treatment," the agency said in a statement.

The ban will include poultry feed, raw poultry as well as equipment used for treatment of poultry and could be limited by region depending on information received from British veterinarians, the statement said.

Thermic treatment of poultry involves the application of heat, for example through frying or roasting, and is believed to kill off the virus. British authorities have insisted the risks to public health are minimal.

Britain culled up to 160,000 turkeys on Monday following the confirmation of an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu at a farm in eastern England on Saturday.

Earlier Monday, Japan announced the suspension of poultry imports from Britain.

British poultry exports are worth hundreds of millions of dollars every year but Russia, which imports a lot of poultry from the United States, is not believed to be a major market.

"The total volume of poultry imports from Britain to Russia is not very big," Alexei Alexeyenko, a spokesman for the food monitoring agency, told AFP.

There have been several recent outbreaks of the H5N1 bird flu virus in Russia.