Canada restricts import of chicken, eggs from a number of U.S. states

Eggs from the Bilawski homestead near London, Ont.

Residents looking for a deal on chicken and eggs will no longer be able to turn across the border — as the country is restricting poultry imports from a number of U.S. states.

Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) issued a notice that all poultry products and by-products that are not fully cooked, canned or hermetically sealed from “the restricted zones” cannot be brought back into Canada.

Among those restricted zones includes Windsor’s border state, Michigan, along with 20 others.

 

According to the release, the ban comes from measures implemented by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) to protect Canada’s poultry resources from outbreaks of avian flu reported in poultry in the listed states.

Residents who choose to buy poultry or eggs from the U.S. must make sure they have proof the items originated and were purchased in an area other than those restricted, CBSA says.

Examples of restricted items include:

• Live birds and hatching eggs
• Eggs, yolks, egg whites (albumen)
• Poultry meat (other than fully cooked, canned, commercially sterile meat products)
• Raw pet foods containing poultry products
• Feathers
• Poultry manure and litter
• Laboratory material containing poultry products/by-products

CBSA says these measures are a normal part of Canada’s disease control efforts. There is no food safety risk associated with these products, but these measures are being taken to prevent the introduction of avian flu into Canada.