Due to avian flu, the USA has experienced a shortage of chicken eggs. As a result, America approached Finland with an offer to conclude an export agreement.
However, the Finnish Poultry Association turned the US down. The organization's executive director, Veera Lehtilä, explained that exporting eggs is currently not possible because there have been no negotiations with the US authorities to access the American market.
“This will require a protracted process involving extensive inspections and research,” Yle reports Lehtilä as saying
She noted, however, that Finland has only 4 million laying hens. The amount of eggs they produce would not solve the problem of egg shortage in the United States.
Meanwhile, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, more than 35 million birds have died in commercial flocks since the beginning of the year due to avian flu. According to the Danish magazine AgriWatch, the US has also requested eggs from Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands.
Recall, the first human case of H5N1 infection in Nevada was reported in February, raising the total number of cases in the US to 68. A new strain of the virus D1.1, which can better adapt to mammalian cells, has also been discovered in the state.