Saturday, July 16, 2022

CFIA bans eggs, fresh chicken from 21 states

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency has banned imports of eggs and fresh chicken from 21 states where highly-pathogenic avian influenza has been detected.

It is confiscating them from travellers returning to Canada, upsetting at least one Windsor resident who had his purchase of 16 eggs he bought for $1.88 taken away. He said they would cost about $ in Canada.


He said he also liked to buy cheaper fresh chicken in the U.S.


The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) says that all poultry products and byproducts that are not fully cooked and canned or hermetically sealed that were sourced, processed or packaged in certain U.S. states are not allowed to enter the country.


It has also banned raw pet foods from those states, which include Michigan.


"If the product is not labelled with the state of origin by the manufacturer, the product may be denied entry," the CFIA said.


It seems like overkill. Surely the U.S. has quarangtine zones similar to those in Canada and ;prohibits transportation of poultry products out of those zones.


The only people likely to be happy about this ban are Canadian egg and chicken producers who already have extraordinary tariff protection fro U.S. imports.