According to Bloomberg, US federal and state officials say that Japan has banned imports of poultry and eggs from Texas after tests showed possible avian influenza in a flock of ducks in the state.

Meat from birds slaughtered in Texas as of 1 December is ineligible for export to Japan, the US Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service said. Texas is the sixth-largest US producer of chicken meat.

The Texas Animal Health Commission restricted movement of about 1,000 domesticated ducks in the north-central part of the state after routine tests at an associated live bird market found a 'weak positive' result for avian flu, the state agency said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg.

The live bird market slaughters and processes animals on site as they are purchased, and the ducks were not part of a commercial flock, the commission said.

"No clinical illness at the market or in the flock" has been discovered, the state agency said. Additional samples from the duck flock are being tested, according to state officials. Flocks near the market are also under surveillance, they added.