The UK government celebrated the lifting of South Africa’s bird flu ban on British poultry, only for the ban to be reimposed a month later due to a new outbreak.
Oh dear! The politicians should have known better.
Bird flu trade bans come and go as bird flu comes and goes. Despite this, the United Kingdom (UK) government chose last month to celebrate the lifting of an eight-year South African bird flu ban on UK poultry as if it were a breakthrough trade deal.
“This deal not only opens new opportunities for UK poultry traders, but grants a new avenue through which to grow the UK economy,” Daniel Zeichner, the UK minister for food security, said in a statement in early October.
The UK government estimated that this “deal” would benefit UK poultry producers by £160 million over five years. It would “provide further opportunities to grow the UK economy and strengthen the trading relationship between both countries”.
One month later, the UK’s five-year “deal” was dead. Bird flu has broken out again in Britain, and South Africa has reimposed the ban on imports of UK poultry.
Mr Zeichner should have done his homework. Other governments have kept quiet when bird flu bans are lifted, knowing that the virus is circulating worldwide and the resumption of poultry exports may well be temporary.
