According to the January 23 edition of Monday Line, the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine of the island nation of Taiwan has lifted embargos on twelve U.S. states with a harvest date after January 19th, 2023. Many of the bans on entire states were announced after outbreaks of HPAI in backyard flocks. Given that Taiwan has diagnosed cases of H5N1 HPAI, bans on entire states are unjustified and are in any event, contrary to WOAH policy regarding regionalization.
Taiwan and other nations imposing state and national bans as a result of outbreaks of HPAI should relax regulations. At the end of the day we will probably have to defend Taiwan and they should follow the African adage of “not cursing the crocodile’s grandmother until they’ve crossed the river”.