Russia bans Italian poultry to stop bird flu

Russia banned poultry imports from Italy starting Monday to prevent the spread of the bird flu virus after outbreaks in the EU member state.

An outbreak of low pathogenic bird flu strain H5N2 and
antibodies to the H7 strain had been detected in northern Italy, near Ravenna,
earlier this month during regular bird flu checks on farms and birds culled,
Health Ministry said in a statement. Italy said the strain was not dangerous
and the ban impact was negligible.

Russia regulates meat imports by tariff quotas. In the past,
traders used import bans imposed on some countries for safety reasons to
increase volumes of imports from other countries within the overall quotas.