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South Korea bans poultry, egg imports from the U.S.

South Korea closed its market Monday to U.S. poultry and eggs because of highly pathogenic avian flu discovered at a Tennessee broiler breeding operation.

In an Agri-Pulse story, a Korean government official said the action was taken because the U.S. and South Korea have not settled on a deal to lessen the impact of disease detections.  USDA officials have been working on such an agreement with South Korea to narrow bans to just a state or region if bird flu is detected, but talks had not finished.

A similar ban was issued in 2015 when high-path avian flu swept through U.S. layer facilities and turkey farms in more than a dozen states.  That ban was lifted last July.

South Korea imported about $100 million worth of poultry from the U.S. in 2014.

In addition to South Korea’s nationwide ban, regional bans have been put in place by seven other countries.