The ban, which covers live poultry, frozen and processed poultry meat and eggs, took effect on May 1. — Photo vov

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam's supermarkets are looking for frozen domestic chicken sources as a replacement for imported chicken products from the US, which have been temporarily stopped due to a bird-flu outbreak in the US.

Vo Hoang Anh, marketing director of Co.opMart supermarket, said the supermarket had imported US chicken and sales had been relatively good.

However, the supermarket has stopped importing poultry and poultry products from the US. To meet consumer demand, it will seek more domestic sources as a replacement.

Ho Quoc Nguyen, PR director of Big C supermarket, said it had not imported US chicken, and only distributed chicken from domestic enterprises, mainly from Son Ha Company.

Lotte supermarket said previously the supermarket imported frozen chicken from the US but after a temporary suspension of poultry imports from the US, it would seek domestic supply sources.

The supermarkets would not reveal the amount of US imported chicken each month.

Nguyen Xuan Binh, director of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development's Animal Health Agency Zone VI, said to protect local consumers, the ministry issued a ban to temporarily suspend poultry imports from the US, where a bird flu outbreak has spread to 14 states.

The ban, which covers live poultry, frozen and processed poultry meat and eggs, took effect on May 1.

Virulent H5 avian influenza strains have spread to 14 states over the last five months and affected about 26 million birds in the worst outbreak of the disease in US history, according to Reuters, citing the US Department of Agriculture.

Binh said in the past, Viet Nam's imported frozen chicken came mainly from the US and Brazil.

This is not the first time that Viet Nam has issued a ban on temporarily stopping imported frozen chicken. The ban was issued in early 2014 during a bird flu outbreak in Korea. —VNS