Chile regained its status as a country free of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in poultry after completing the sanitary measures and deadlines established by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) for the eradication of outbreaks detected during 2026. On June 24, the Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) officially announced compliance with these requirements and the recovery of this important sanitary recognition.
Since the start of the animal health emergency in early March, the Chilean Agricultural and Livestock Service (SAG) recorded 45 outbreaks in backyard poultry and three outbreaks in commercial farms, a situation that led to the temporary loss of its animal health status. After successfully completing surveillance, control, cleaning, and disinfection measures in the affected farms, and confirming the absence of viral circulation in poultry, Chile regained compliance with the requirements set by the World Food Standards Authority (WFSA), strengthening its position as a reliable food supplier and supporting access for Chilean poultry products to international markets.
Agriculture Minister Jaime Campos described the measure as good news for the sector and reiterated the call to maintain biosecurity measures given the persistence of the virus in wild birds.
Furthermore, the Secretary of State explained that “we are informing our trading partners of this development so that the markets we regularly accessed can be reopened. This has been the result of serious and sustained work carried out by our Agricultural and Livestock Service, demonstrating its effectiveness and efficiency. Therefore, I congratulate all the SAG officials who have been involved in this effort.”
For his part, the National Director of SAG, Domingo Rojas, highlighted the work carried out by the Service, stating, “We have regained our status as a country free of avian influenza, which we have already notified to the WOAH. We expect to resume talks shortly with those markets that remain closed in order to restart exporting our quality products. Thanks to the work of our technical teams, we have managed to regain this status in record time, which demonstrates the quality and professionalism of our specialists.”
The president of ChileCarne, Juan Carlos Domínguez, stated that “this is good news for the sector, because it reaffirms Chile’s sanitary reputation and strengthens the confidence of international markets in our production. This achievement was made possible thanks to the coordinated work between SAG and the production sector, a key collaboration for the country’s competitiveness and export development.”
This milestone underscores the importance of sanitary zoning, an internationally recognized mechanism that allows the effects of an emergency to be confined to the affected areas, preventing the entire country from being subject to trade restrictions. Thanks to this tool, Chile was able to keep strategic markets open and minimize the economic impact of the emergency, resuming shipments to key destinations such as the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Canada—which together represent 82% of the value of Chilean chicken exports.
Furthermore, the new sanitary status opens an opportunity to advance the normalization of access to key markets for the sector. Among these, Colombia stands out, a country that currently does not recognize sanitary zoning mechanisms and for which this status is a fundamental requirement for fully restoring trade in Chilean poultry products. Likewise, efforts are expected to continue with China, one of the most important markets for Chilean agri-food exports, with the aim of moving towards the reopening and normalization of shipments.
Chicken meat represents approximately 48% of Chile’s total meat production and is the second most exported product in the national meat sector. The combination of continuous monitoring, strict biosecurity protocols, and close public-private coordination has allowed Chile to maintain one of the most robust animal health systems in the region, a status that is now once again being recognized internationally.
