Chad Bryan, Staff Reporter

A ban by the Veterinary Services Division of the Ministry of Agriculture on the importation of poultry and poultry products is not expected to adversely affect a number of costumes for this year's Bacchanal Jamaica road march.

"I do not really think so. We have gone ahead and made the costumes. We will have to make them without. The majority of the costumes do not have feathers. They (Bacchanal Jamaica) are making every effort to ensure that the costumes are of a high standard, as they usually are," said public relations officer for Bacchanal Jamaica, Marcia McDonough.

The road march is scheduled for Sunday.

Bacchanal Jamaica said in a release that they would not be able to properly complete a number of costumes which specifically require feathers for this year's parade.

This is as a result of an outbreak of avian influenza or bird flu in Kansas, Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, California, Idaho, Oregon and Washington in the United States, as well as British Columbia in Canada.

The Veterinary Services ban covers all poultry products whether raw, chilled, fresh or frozen; by-products that are not fully cooked; hatching eggs; and raw pet foods containing poultry; live birds; egg yolks and egg whites; feathers and offal, or entrails and internal organs, of animals used as food.

The ban not only affects feathers coming from the United States, but also feathers originating outside of the States. Despite efforts by Bacchanal Jamaica to have them sterilised and certified, they were denied entry into the island.

Bacchanal Jamaica said it was impossible to make any other arrangements and that there would be a refund in the cost of missing elements.

They also apologised to revellers for the inconvenience caused by this national issue.

This has, however, not gone down well with some persons. On the Bacchannal Jamaica Facebook page, several persons expressed their disappointments on the situation.

"It amazes me that since December, you've known the costumes that you will have to make and yet it's less than a week before carnival and the feathers aren't on island.

"I would have thought that as soon as your costumes sell out, you arrange for the materials to be shipped down asap, so that you aren't making costumes the day before carnival. But, I suppose that would be far too sensible," posted an individual.