U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue visited with Chinese officials last week as the country slowly begins to reopen its markets to U.S. beef. But beef was not the only topic on his agenda. China also banned all U.S. poultry after an avian influenza outbreak in 2015 when poultry farmers were forced to kill tens of millions of birds to help stop the spread of the virus.
Perdue made a point to press Chinese officials on the country’s poultry ban, but much of the effort to restore that market is happening in the U.S, according to government and industry officials.
Officials from China are currently in the U.S. touring U.S. poultry production facilities and scientific laboratories to learn more about how the U.S. handles avian influenza outbreaks.
The tour starts with a three-day crash course on avian influenza and U.S. programs to detect and contain the virus.
“The real goal is to help them understand what the U.S. techniques are so that they feel comfortable that our procedures are well-based in science,” Eric Benson, a professor at the University of Delaware’s Animal and Food Science Department, said.
After the 2015 outbreaks of avian flu, many countries limited their bans to regions where outbreaks occurred, but countries like China and South Korea stopped all U.S. poultry imports.
Before the ban occurred, the U.S. exported $153 million worth of broiler meat to China in 2014, according to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The U.S. wants China to adopt a system that would adhere to the practice of regionalization when it comes to reacting to avian flu outbreaks.
“Our goal is really to teach them everything about the U.S. methodology and best practices,” Benson said. “When the regionalization discussion happens…it will allow them to understand what we do and that will lead them to say: ‘Sure, we’ll regionalize to a state or county level.’”
President of the USA Poultry& Egg Export Council Jim Sumner said the visit will allow Chinese officials to “finalize the regionalization proposal.”
Sumner told Agri-Pulse they are looking for the ban on poultry to “soon be lifted and hoping that regionalization will be put in place so this situation doesn’t again occur.”