May 25, 2006

Japan partially lifts ban on British poultry

Japan on Wednesday (May 24) partially resumed poultry imports from Britain following steps in the country to contain bird flu outbreaks.

Japan suspended imports of all British poultry and related products on Apr 29 following an outbreak of a mild form of bird flu at a poultry farm in Norfolk, eastern England.

A Japanese Agriculture Ministry statement said Tokyo would continue the ban on products from Norfolk, but that poultry from other parts of Britain would be allowed into Japan.

The statement said the outbreak there involved the mild H7N3 strain of bird flu, not the deadly H5N1 type of bird flu that has ravaged flocks and killed at least 124 people worldwide since 2003. The outbreak, it said, had been contained in Norfolk.

H5N1 has not turned up in domestic British poultry, although the strain killed some parrots and wild birds at a British quarantine centre last year.

Bird flu hit Japan two years ago for the first time in decades. Several outbreaks of the less-dangerous H5N2 strain at poultry farms near Tokyo last year led to culling of hundreds of

thousands of birds.

In 2005, Japan imported merely 200 kilogrammes (440 pounds) of chicken and other poultry meat, and nearly 375,000 birds from Britain, the ministry said.

The partial resumption of British imports relieves concerns about a possible poultry shortage in Japan, whose chicken supply comes mostly from Europe.