South Korea's Agriculture Ministry announced on Saturday that it is temporarily stopping the delivery of chicken products from the United States to prevent the risk of a bird flu outbreak, Reuters reported.
The government agency's decision came days after two strains of avian flu were detected in the Washington state.
On Thursday, U.S. officials submitted a report to the World Health Organization to confirm that the H5N2 and H5N8 avian flu strains have infected wild birds in the country, according to VOA News.
Since South Korea is currently addressing its own bird flu (HPAI) outbreak, the ministry said the temporary suspension is part of its efforts to lessen the effect of the disease on its birds and other poultry products.
"This import suspension is a quarantine measure to prevent the HPAI virus from entering the country," the agency said in a statement.
South Korea is one of the 18 countries confirmed to have been hit by avian influenza in 2014. Government officials reported that the disease is only found among birds and has not infected humans. The U.S. is also one of the countries where the disease has been detected.
In November of this year, over 30,000 farm turkeys were slaughtered in Germany after it was discovered that they have been infected by the H5N8 strain, DW reported.
Thomas Mettenleider, the president of a veterinary research firm in Germany told reporters that they are carrying out necessary steps to ensure the virus do not transfer to humans.
In the U.S., officials from the agriculture department assured the public that they are not in danger of contracting the disease since it has been contained. They also noted that the avian flu was only detected in wild birds and has not infected commercially-raised poultry.
According to the Agriculture Ministry's report, South Korea has imported more than 63,000 tonnes of chicken meat and 264,000 chicks from the U.S. for this year alone.
Despite the temporary import suspension and the avian flu outbreak, South Korean officials noted that the country will not experience a shortage in poultry supply.
