Russia, Japan Halt Shipments of North Carolina Poultry

Russia and Japan halted imports of poultry from North Carolina because of disease concerns, U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service said.

Initial tests on a flock of turkeys in North Carolina came back positive for low-pathogenic avian influenza, Lyndsay Cole, a USDA spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview. More tests failed to isolate the virus, signaling that the birds don’t have the flu strain, she said.