HPAI H5N1 commercial poultry detection & export suspension
Enforcement Action
In Effect
February 28, 2023
Summary
On 28 February 2023, Argentina’s National Service of Agri-Food Health and Quality (Senasa) confirmed the first case of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5N1 in commercial poultry — a broiler chicken establishment in Mainqué, Río Negro Province — having already confirmed HPAI H5N1 in wild birds on 14 February 2023. Senasa immediately self-suspended all exports of poultry products to markets whose sanitary certificates were based on Argentina’s HPAI-free country status, notified WOAH, and implemented stamping-out of infected commercial flocks; the European Union and China’s customs authority imposed corresponding import suspensions. Domestic poultry production and consumption were maintained throughout. Argentina exports poultry products to approximately 55 countries under Senasa health certificates, all of which required renegotiation following the loss of HPAI-free status; trade substantially normalised during the second half of 2023 following Argentina’s 7 June 2023 self-declaration to WOAH of restored HPAI-free status.
Background Context
Before February 2023, Argentina was officially recognised as free of HPAI and poultry export certificates routinely attested to country-free status. HPAI H5N1 clade 2.3.4.4b had been spreading through the Americas since late 2022, with outbreaks in wild birds and poultry across multiple South American countries in the months preceding the Argentine detections. Senasa’s existing policy linked detection of HPAI in commercial poultry to automatic loss of national HPAI-free status and corresponding revision or suspension of export certificates. The WOAH Terrestrial Animal Health Code and bilateral sanitary agreements with trading partners required that, upon HPAI detection in poultry, Argentina either suspend trade or shift to more restricted zoning, compartmentalisation, and processing-based sanitary guarantees. The EU’s Regulation (EU) 2020/692 provided the regulatory template for EU import suspensions from third countries where HPAI is detected. Subsequent HPAI detections in Argentina in 2025 triggered fresh trade restrictions from certain partners — including a UK import suspension from 19 August 2025 — indicating that the 2023 episode established a pattern of sanitary-linked trade responses rather than a one-off event.
System Impact
System Scale Direction
System Contraction
Type
Changes Scale
Significance
Moderate
Senasa confirmed the first commercial HPAI H5N1 case on 28 February 2023 and immediately self-suspended poultry exports to all markets requiring HPAI-free certification. WOAH notification was issued 1 March 2023. Senasa issued Resolution No. 147/2023 declaring a national animal health emergency. Stamping-out was implemented at the affected Río Negro broiler establishment, with at least 630,000 birds culled. The EU suspended imports of fresh poultry and game bird meat from consignments certified from 28 February 2023, permitting only treatment D-processed products. China’s GACC suspended all Argentine poultry export establishments. Domestic supply was maintained without interruption. Within approximately one month, Senasa negotiated revised certificates with trading partners including Uruguay, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, and certain African countries, enabling trade in heat-treated products and, for some partners, fresh poultry from disease-free zones. By June 2023, after completion of outbreak control and surveillance, Argentina submitted its WOAH self-declaration of HPAI-free status restoration, providing the basis for progressive normalisation of export certificates. DALRRD progress reporting in the comparable South Africa HPAI episode documented higher culling volumes; Argentina’s 2023 episode was proportionally smaller in direct flock losses but more significant in trade impact given Argentina’s role as an exporter to approximately 55 markets.
Anticipated Effects
If Senasa maintains the existing policy of automatic export self-suspension upon HPAI detection in commercial poultry, future outbreaks would be expected to produce comparable trade disruption patterns, creating strong incentives for producers and exporters to invest in biosecurity to reduce outbreak risk.
If trading partners continue to apply regionalization and product-treatment approaches, Argentina’s poultry export sector would be expected to adapt by shifting product mix toward processed items and by developing compartmentalised or zoned production structures with differentiated sanitary status.
Whether the 2023 enforcement response produced any lasting structural change to Argentina’s commercial poultry system — beyond establishing the response pattern — is not established in available sources; the documented record indicates rapid recovery of trade and production within the same year.
Significance Rationale
The culling affected a relatively small proportion of Argentina’s commercial flock compared with the South Africa 2023 HPAI record (7.5–8.25 million birds, approximately 30% of layer capacity). The trade disruption was broader in geographic reach — approximately 55 export markets — but was resolved within approximately four months. The outbreak did not structurally alter Argentina’s commercial poultry system.
Key Actors
Senasa (Servicio Nacional de Sanidad y Calidad Agroalimentaria) confirmed the outbreak, self-suspended exports, issued Resolution No. 147/2023, and notified WOAH. The Ministry of Economy and Secretariat of Agriculture communicated the domestic supply continuity position publicly. WOAH received Argentina’s notifications and the June 2023 HPAI-free self-declaration. The European Commission (DG SANTE) issued the EU import suspension under Regulation (EU) 2020/692. China’s GACC suspended Argentine poultry export establishments. Uruguay, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Japan, and selected African countries negotiated revised certificates for partial trade resumption.
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