February 25, 2005

Japan bans imports of beef and pork from 2 Chinese facilities

Beef and pork imports from two processing plants in China have been banned by Japan due to insufficient heat treatment.

According to ministry officials, The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will annul its designation granted to a facility in Qingdao, Shandong province, for gravely violating the Domestic Animal Infectious Diseases Control Law by failing to cook ox tongue over a high enough heat.

The ministry will also decide whether or not to approve the resumption of imports from another facility in Zhejiang province after it receives a report on the reasons why pork was not cooked properly and what is being done to rectify the problem.

To prevent a foot-and-mouth epidemic from making inroads into Japan through Chinese beef and pork, Japan imports only boiled or heat-treated products from designated facilities in China.