NOTICES
DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Interstate Quarantine Order; Virus Control for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza for Live Bird Market and Breaker Eggs Recitals.
[45 Pa.B. 3224]
[Saturday, June 20, 2015]A. Under the authority established in the Domestic Animal Law (3 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2301—2389) and specifically the authority to establish quarantine orders as set forth at section 2329 of the Domestic Animal Law (3 Pa.C.S.A. § 2329(c)), the Department hereby establishes an Interstate Quarantine Order related to the shipment of poultry from states where Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been detected, there is reasonable suspicion it exists or it has been confirmed, into live bird markets in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.1
B. This Interstate Quarantine Order is established to address highly pathogenic avian influenza strains, including the H5N2 and H5N8 avian viruses that have developed into a virulent form of the disease. These sub-types are easily spread, and may mutate into strains that are communicable to or among humans.
C. Avian influenza is designated a ''dangerous transmissible disease'' of animals under the provisions of the Domestic Animal Law (3 Pa.C.S.A. §§ 2301—2389), at 3 Pa.C.S.A. § 2321(d).
D. The Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture (Department) has broad authority under the Domestic Animal Law to regulate the keeping and handling of domestic animals in order to exclude, contain or eliminate dangerous transmissible diseases.
E. Avian Influenza has caused significant loss in the past to the Pennsylvania poultry industry and the current virulent forms of the disease have caused wide-spread loss to the poultry industry in states in which it has been detected and confirmed.
F. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is of particular concern to the entire Pennsylvania poultry industry as it may cause wide-spread loss of poultry, severely limit the market for Pennsylvania product and cause severe economic damage to the poultry industry in Pennsylvania.
G. Live Bird Markets—markets that sell live birds for consumers to slaughter, or that sell live birds and slaughter them on-premises for their customers are of particular concern in that Avian Influenza is more likely to be present at these markets than at other poultry production operations, biosecurity measures present on poultry production operation are not able to be instituted at live bird markets and there is direct human contact with live birds. All of these circumstances make it more likely for Avian Influenza virus to be transmitted and spread through live bird markets.
H. Pursuant to the authority of the Domestic Animal Law, the Department issued a General Quarantine Order for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania addressing quarterly closures and sanitation of live bird markets, see Pa.B. Doc. No. 09-118, January 3, 2009. All provisions of that General Quarantine Order shall remain in full force and affect, accept to the extent any provision of this Order may be in conflict, in which case the provisions of this Order shall be controlling.
I. The Domestic Animal Law allows, at 3 Pa.C.S.A. § 2329(c), for an Interstate Quarantine Order to be established for any place or places outside of the Commonwealth where a dangerous transmissible disease has been reported or exists, or whenever it is deemed advisable to test or treat any domestic animal upon the reasonable suspicion that it has contracted or been exposed to a dangerous transmissible disease or whenever the testing or treatment of a domestic animal indicates that the domestic animal has been exposed to a dangerous transmissible disease. In addition, a quarantine order may apply to goods, products, facilities, containers, vehicles or materials that may carry a dangerous transmissible disease or be contaminated with a hazardous substance.
Order.
In consideration of the previous recitals, and with those recitals incorporated into this Order by reference, the Department hereby establishes an Interstate Quarantine under authority of the Domestic Animal Law, at 3 Pa.C.S.A § 2329(c), and section 1702 of The Administrative Code of 1929 (71 P. S. § 442). The following are the conditions and requirements of this Interstate Quarantine Order:
1. Quarantine Area. The area covered by this Interstate Quarantine Order is the entire Commonwealth, all live bird markets in the Commonwealth and all states in which Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been detected, there is a reasonable suspicion it exists or has been confirmed
2. Applicability. The terms of this Order are applicable to the Quarantine Area.
3. Live Bird Market. For purposes of this order, a ''live bird market'' is a market that sells live birds to consumers for slaughter, or that sells live birds and slaughters them on-premises for its customers. The fact a consumer buying a bird from a live bird market may not ultimately slaughter said bird shall not release the market from this definition.
4. Poultry. For purposes of this Order, poultry shall include, chickens, turkeys, waterfowl and any other commercial species of bird that may contract or harbor Avian Influenza virus.
5. No poultry from any state where Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been detected, there is reasonable suspicion it exists or it has been confirmed may be shipped into a live bird market in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, either directly, through a dealer, via another state or by any other means unless such poultry shall have complied with and met the standards established in paragraph 6 of this Order.
6. Poultry moving to live bird markets and eggs destined for a commercial breaking operation from any state where Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been detected, there is reasonable suspicion it exists or it has been confirmed shall only be allowed into the Commonwealth under the following circumstances:
a. All poultry moving to the live bird markets and flocks producing eggs destined for a commercial breaking operation, even those originating from a flock that participates in the current version of the National Poultry Improvement Plan and Auxiliary Provisions ''U.S. Avian Influenza Clean'' or ''U.S. H5/H7 Avian Influenza Clean'' program (''NPIP Program'') shall meet the seventy-two hour testing, paperwork and reporting requirements established in subsection b. of this paragraph 6. The shipment of poultry from a flock participating in the current version of the NPIP Program shall be required to continue to be accompanied by a USDA form 9-3 or other approved NPIP form;
b. The poultry moving to the live bird markets and eggs destined for a commercial breaking operation must originate from a flock in which a minimum of thirty (30) birds, three (3) weeks of age or older, were tested negative for Avian Influenza (virus isolation, or real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RRT-PCR)). The date of sample collection must be within seventy-two hours prior to the date of entry into Pennsylvania and the shipment must be accompanied by the test report. If there are fewer than 30 birds in the flock, all birds must be tested (RRT-PCR, virus isolation). For waterfowl, virus detection testing (cloacal swabs) is required for entry. RRT-PCR testing is accepted for domestic ducks-virus isolation testing must be used for other waterfowl. No untested birds shall have been added to the flock after sample collection and before entry into Pennsylvania. All such sample collection must have been within seventy-two hours prior to the date of entry into Pennsylvania and the shipment must be accompanied by the test report. All test results shall be negative for Avian Influenza, including both low and highly pathogenic influenza.
For birds or eggs from birds which must be tested using virus isolation, the seventy-two hour period for entry into Pennsylvania will begin when virus isolation results are reported from the laboratory. A copy of the results, which contains the date of the report, must accompany the shipment of those birds or eggs.
c. Eggs destined for a commercial breaking operation, in addition to meeting the flock seventy-two hour HPAI testing requirement, must be moved using only containers which have been thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
7. Poultry three (3) weeks of age and older, imported into the Commonwealth, shall meet all other import requirements required under the Department's regulations at Title 7 of the Pennsylvania Code (accessible through the following web site address: www.pacode.com).
8. Gallinaceous birds, water birds, and ratites three (3) weeks of age and older which are destined for Live Bird Markets, to be pet birds or destined to be part of a zoological or menagerie collection; and wild birds three (3) weeks of age and older (gallinaceous birds, water birds, and ratites) destined for domestication, confinement, or as pets must be test negative for Avian Influenza (swabs tested using virus isolation or real-time reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RRT-PCR) techniques). These birds shall be individually tested for import. The date of sample collection must be within seventy-two hours prior to the date of entry into Pennsylvania and the shipment must be accompanied by the test report. RRT-PCR testing is accepted for domestic ducks. For wild water birds, virus isolation (cloacal swabs) is required for entry. All such sample collection must have been with within seventy-two hours prior to the date of entry into Pennsylvania and the shipment must be accompanied by the test report. All test results shall be negative for Avian Influenza, including both low and highly pathogenic influenza.
9. This Order shall not be construed as limiting the Department's authority to establish additional quarantine or testing requirements on imported poultry and/or poultry products.
10. This Order shall be effective upon actual service or publication in the Pennsylvania Bulletin.
RUSSELL C. REDDING,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 15-1159. Filed for public inspection June 19, 2015, 9:00 a.m.] _______
1 As of the date of this Notice establishing the Interstate Quarantine Order High Pathogenic Avian Influenza has been detected or confirmed or both in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, South Dakota, North Dakota and California, the status of these states and others is of course subject to change.
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