Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry suspends imports of Brazilian poultry—including chicken meat, eggs and live birds—after Brazil confirms its first bird flu outbreak.
Mexico’s Agriculture Ministry announced on Saturday that it is temporarily suspending all imports of poultry products from Brazil after Brazilian authorities confirmed their first outbreak of bird flu on a commercial farm in the state of Rio Grande do Sul.
The blanket ban covers chicken meat, fertile eggs, live birds and other poultry-derived goods originating in Brazil. In its statement, the ministry emphasized that the measure is purely precautionary and intended “to protect the national poultry industry” from any risk of contagion.
The Brazilian outbreak, detected at a facility in Montenegro, has already triggered containment protocols within Brazil’s own borders. Officials there have culled thousands of birds and established a 6-mile quarantine radius around the infected farm while implementing a contingency plan aimed at both eradicating the virus and maintaining food security.
Under international health-certificate agreements, several of Brazil’s largest poultry buyers—including China, the European Union and South Korea—are set to impose a 60-day ban on all Brazilian chicken imports. Argentina, meanwhile, has suspended imports from the entire country until Rio Grande do Sul is declared free of the virus.
Brazil is a powerhouse in the global poultry trade, accounting for roughly 14 percent of the world’s chicken meat production, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. An avian influenza outbreak in the United States earlier this year spurred a U.S. egg shortage, which in turn drove Brazilian exports to North America up by more than 1,000 percent between January and April 2025.
Brazilian authorities have notified the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) and activated established protocols with trade partners to limit exports from affected areas only. Industry group ABPA praised the swift response, noting that containment and biosecurity measures were already in place to ensure the sector’s resilience.
Back in Mexico, poultry producers are monitoring for potential domestic price fluctuations, though the Agriculture Ministry assured consumers that supply chains remain diversified. Products shipped before the outbreak date will not be affected by the current restrictions.
Experts point out that while H5N1 is highly pathogenic among birds, it is not transmitted through the consumption of properly inspected poultry meat or eggs. Veterinary officials stress that rigorous sanitary checks continue unabated to safeguard public health