RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — 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 says he estimates Virginia could sell $20 million a year in poultry products to China now that the ban has been lifted.
Haymore says China is a strong market for chicken parts that don’t sell well domestically, like 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.
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