Papua New Guinea has suspended imports of Australian poultry and eggs after the H5N1 bird flu virus was detected in seabirds in WA last week.
PNG, which is the largest importer of Australian chicken meat, advised the Government on Monday that it would stop buying all chicken products, including eggs and egg products.
The decision was revealed in a market access advice published by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) on Tuesday.
It said that PNG’s National Agriculture and Quarantine Inspection Authority has taken the step despite Australia retaining its HPAI (high pathogenicity avian influenza) free status with the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH).
“The detection in wild birds does not change Australia’s current HPAI freedom status and we remain free from HPAI in poultry in accordance with WOAH international standards,” the advice said.
It said that DAFF was “actively engaging with PNG to resolve this issue” and that until further advice was received from PNG, Australian export health certification would be unavailable for poultry meat and poultry products produced on or after Monday June 22.
It also warned that Australian poultry products produced before Monday’s decision may not be cleared through PNG customs and some consignments will need to be returned to Australia.
More than a dozen birds from Geraldton to South Australia’s southern coast were undergoing urgent H5N1 testing following the virus’s detection in two migratory seabirds near Esperance.
The Federal Government confirmed Australia’s first suspected case of the deadly global strain of bird flu had been discovered in a brown skua on June 14.
A second migratory bird, a giant petrel, returned a positive test for the H5 virus on Monday.
WA Agriculture and Food Minister Jackie Jarvis is expected to give an update on the situation this afternoon/weds.
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