Zanzibar on Friday announced a ban on imports from foreign countries of poultry and poultry products to prevent the spread of bird flu into the Indian Ocean archipelago.

Special permits are needed from the Zanzibar ministry for agriculture to import such poultry and poultry products as chicken, chicken meat and eggs from the Tanzania mainland.

The ban was announced after government officials had seized 40 imported chickens at a local supermarket, according to reports quoting Kassim Gharib Juma.

Kassim Gharib Juma, director of the livestock development department under the agriculture ministry, told reporters that the ban was aimed at preventing the spread of bird flu from Asia, Europe and some African countries.

Up till now, no case of bird flu has been reported in Zanzibar, where migratory birds have gathered on the Lanthan island, in the Bwawani area in the Unguja island and on the Kisiwapanza island.

Source: Xinhua