May 24, 2007

China has high hopes of resuming poultry exports to the EU
 

EU is likely to resume imported cooked poultry meat from China this year, said Robert Madelin, the EU's Director-General for Health and Consumer Protection.

Madelin said he would submit a proposal to the EU authorities next month to reopen its poultry market to China, with a decision forthcoming this fall. The EU has banned China's poultry exports since 2002

Madelin said the EU and China have undertaken broad discussions on the matter and the EU has sent several inspection teams to China. The purpose was not only to check the safety of the poultry meat alone, but also to verify that the entire production chain would be protected from bird flu, he said.

Currently, most of China's chicken exports come from Shandong province. Madelin said recent bird flu cases in Hunan would not affect the EU's decision as the bird flu cases did not occur in Shandong or its surrounding areas.

Madelin said he hopes to strengthen cooperation on genetically-modified food, pork import and sharing of bird flu samples from China. He also hoped China would open its fruit market to imports from the EU.