France to ban pigs and byproducts from North America, Japan over virus

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France to ban pigs and byproducts from North America, Japan over virus

By Sybille de La Hamaide PARIS (Reuters) - France will ban imports of live pigs, pork-based byproducts and pig sperm from the United States, Canada, Mexico and Japan to protect against a virus that has killed millions of piglets in North America and Asia, a farm ministry official said on Friday. The ban, which is due to be introduced on Saturday and does not include pork meat for human consumption, aims to ward off Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), which has killed around 7 million young pigs since first identified in the United States almost a year ago. "This disease worries us because the economic consequences would be dramatic if it hit our farms, in Europe and notably in France," Jean-Luc Angot, deputy director general and chief veterinary officer at the French farm ministry, told Reuters.

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