|
 The government has established a broad restriction zone around the
areas in which 30 cases of highly pathogenic bird flu have been
detected since late November, a decree published in the Official
Journal showed.
The zone covers all of the five administrative departments where
bird flu has been found so far - Dordogne, Gers, Haute-Vienne,
Landes and Pyrenees-Atlantiques -, as well as the whole of Gironde,
Hautes-Pyrenees and Lot-et-Garonne, and parts of the Lot and
Charente departments.
Bird flu, or avian influenza, is often spread by people or trucks
that come into contact with contaminated faeces.
"The new measures are aimed at sanitizing in an effective way
poultry production across a wide zone, and at providing all
necessary guarantees to EU and non-EU countries that import French
poultry birds and meat," the farm ministry said in a statement.
Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll said on Monday initial results
showed the strains found in France posed no risk of being caught by
humans and stressed the virus cannot be transmitted through food.
The disease has come at an awkward time for farmers and food firms
in the southwest, France's main foie gras producing region, as the
year-end holidays represent a period of peak demand for poultry meat
and specialties such as foie gras, which is made from duck or goose
liver.
[to top of second column] |
Several countries including China and Japan - the world's largest
importer of foie gras - have imposed restrictions on French poultry
products, live animals or hatching eggs due to the bird flu
outbreak.
Le Foll said on Monday the government was trying to convince
countries banning products from the whole of France to limit
restrictions to the regions hit by avian flu.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide Writing by Gus Trompiz; Editing
by Mark
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
