McAuliffe: China lifts ban on Virginia chickens

Virginia can resume exporting chicken feet to China after a seven-year ban.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe's administration announced Monday that the Chinese government had lifted its ban on imported Virginia poultry products.

China blocked Virginia chicken exports in 2007 after a case of pathogenic avian influenza was reported on a single farm in Virginia.

Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore said he estimates Virginia could sell $20 million a year in poultry products to China now that the ban has been lifted.

Haymore said China is a strong market for chicken parts that don't sell well domestically, such as chicken feet and wing tips.

The poultry industry is the largest individual sector of Virginia's agricultural economy with farm cash receipts of $950 million a year.

U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine praised the announcement Monday, in a joint statement.

In March, Warner and Kaine wrote to Ambassador Max Baucus encouraging him to support efforts to end the ban on Virginia poultry exports, which has cost Virginia poultry producers millions of dollars in lost export opportunities annually.

“This is great news for Virginia poultry growers,” the senators said in the written statement. “We applaud the hard work of Gov. McAuliffe, the Virginia Poultry Federation and USDA APHIS to ensure that decisions about trade policy and public health are made with the best scientific data. This is long-overdue news for Virginia’s agriculture industry and the benefits will be felt across the Commonwealth’s economy.”

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