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Poultry imports from Russia to Armenia were carried out for the last time from Saratov Oblast (region) yesterday. During this year, Armenia has not imported poultry from the regions near Moscow. Hovhannes Mkrtchyan, the Head of the Veterinary Inspection of the State Service for Food Safety told the aforesaid in an interview with Panorama.am.

To note, the Russian media have reported about an  avian flu outbreak in Moscow Oblast of Russia.

Currently Armenia has blocked poultry imports from that region. In the words of Mkrtchyan, a number of factors are taken into account before taking such a decision, i.e. the number of infection cases, the way they are interrelated, whether the infected flock is domestic or wild, etc.

“There are several mechanisms of risk measurement. Being a delegate to the World Health Organization, I myself immediately receive information [on the flock infection cases]. The ban [on poultry imports] is imposed in case the risk is great and the infection can penetrate into our country,” the head of the Veterinary Inspection said.

Currently Armenia has banned imports of poultry, all types of poultry products (feather, fluff) and eggs from Germany, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Poland, two regions of Ukraine, Turkey, China and 11 provinces of Iran.

In the words of Hovhannes Mkrtchyan, Armenia imports poultry mainly from the U.S. – over 30 thousand tons annually.