USDA Unsure if Bird Flu Guidelines are Helping, GAO Finds

U.S. agriculture officials do not actually know if they are doing enough to protect people and poultry from avian influenza, a government watchdog reported Thursday. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is still relying on poultry producers to voluntarily follow security guidelines, and many still are not doing everything they are supposed to do to protect their flocks, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office says in the report .

South Korea to extend subsidy on some egg imports as bird flu hits local output

A South Korean health official disinfects a vehicle to prevent spread of bird flu in Pohang, South Korea, December 19, 2016. Choi Chang-ho/News1 via South Korea is extending a scheme to subsidize up to half the cost of importing eggs by sea for another two months until the end of April, as it grapples with a shortfall in local supply in the wake of its worst-ever bird flu outbreak.

UPDATE 1-U.S. scrambles to clear egg exports to bird flu-hit Korea

U.S. officials are urgently seeking an agreement with South Korea that would allow imports of American eggs so farmers can cash in on a shortage caused by the Asian country's worst-ever outbreak of bird flu. The two sides are negotiating over terms of potential shipments after South Korea lifted a ban on imports of U.S. table eggs that it imposed when the United States grappled with its own bout of bird flu last year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Public Health Matters Blog – Global Health Security: How is the U.S. doing?

The Joint External Evaluation Team joins U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture colleagues in front of the Humphrey Building, Washington DC, May 2016 At first glance, this photo taken on a set of concrete steps in Washington, D.C., may look like an ordinary group shot-but it took an extraordinary series of events to make it happen. The photo shows colleagues from U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture standing alongside a team of 15 international experts from 13 different countries, known as the Joint External Evaluation Team .