France, the European Union's biggest agriculture producer, reported an outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in chickens on Wednesday, its first since 2007, reports Reuters.
"A case of avian influenza has been confirmed in a backyard in Dordogne," the farm ministry said in a statement.
The bird flu outbreak, found among chickens, is the first to be reported in France since 2007 when it had been detected in wild swans, data from the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) showed.
Several countries including Japan, Egypt and Hong Kong banned French poultry following past outbreaks of the highly pathogenic H5N1.
The latest incident marks the first case of H5N1 reported in the EU since outbreaks in Bulgaria and Romania were detected in March.
Agriculture Minister Stephane Le Foll asked his services to activate a national intervention emergency plan following European and international rules, the ministry said.
It said a monitoring zone of up to 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) has been established around the site.