EU closes eight new avian influenza zones in Canada, the UK and the US and reopens one Canadian zone

The European Commission closed eight new avian influenza zones across Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States on 9 November - a zone-by-zone suspension that keeps trade open from unaffected areas but makes the health certificate decisive.

Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2523 of 9 November 2026, published in the Official Journal on 10 November and applicable from 11 November, amends the EU third-country lists in Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/404. It suspends the entry of poultry and poultry germinal products and of fresh poultry meat and game bird meat from the areas around eight newly confirmed outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza.

Three zones are in Alberta, Canada: CA-2.353 around Manning and Northern Lights and CA-2.354 around Foothills and Okotoks, both confirmed on 20 October 2026, and CA-2.355 around Rimbey and Ponoka, confirmed on 30 October. One is in the United Kingdom: GB-2.473, near Biggar in the Scottish Borders, confirmed on 2 November. Four are in the United States: US-2.1433 Barron County, Wisconsin (23 October), US-2.1434 Morrison County, Minnesota (27 October), US-2.1435 Stanislaus County, California (28 October) and US-2.1436 Sac County, Iowa (29 October). All eight were confirmed by RT-PCR; the three countries established restricted zones of at least 10 km around the affected establishments and applied stamping-out.

The same regulation moves in the other direction for one zone: CA-2.340 in Canada, closed since 21 September 2026, is re-authorised from 1 November after cleaning and disinfection were completed. That is how the system is meant to work - zones close and reopen on evidence, not on national borders.

• Eight zones closed, one reopened, one regulation. Regionalisation is the standing rule of EU poultry trade, not an exception granted case by case.
• Coverage: live poultry and hatching eggs, fresh poultry meat and game bird meat. Product from zones that remain listed is unaffected.
• Timing: confirmations between 23 October and 2 November 2026; the suspensions apply from the respective confirmation dates and the regulation from 11 November.
• What it means at the port: an approval that covers a country as a whole says nothing about the zone your plant sits in - the certificate has to name a zone and an establishment that are eligible on the day of slaughter.
• Winter pressure: eight new zones in a single act is the seasonal pattern in the northern hemisphere, and it tightens EU and UK availability going into the first quarter.

For buyers who cannot absorb that uncertainty, the alternative is to qualify a second origin before the shortage appears. Nau International Food Group supplies halal frozen poultry and frozen meat from HACCP-certified, GACC-registered plants in China, with halal, veterinary health and certificate of origin documents issued per shipment, and arranges customs clearance into Dubai including DDP Jebel Ali. For specifications, packing data and shipping schedules, write to info@naufoodgroup.com.

Source: Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/2523 of 9 November 2026, Official Journal of the European Union L 2026/2523, 10 November 2026.