The European Union ban on poultry coming from the United States began in 1997. The EU refuses to import poultry that has gone through Pathogen Reduction Treatment (PRT) as they view it as overreliance on PRTs and do not believe that it is an appropriate pathogen control strategy. The EU supports stronger sanitary practices during production and processing as an alternative. The U.S. is opposed to this ban and considers it to be a trade barrier not based on scientifically proven reasons.