June 28, 2012

Japan restricts Mexico's poultry imports over bird flu

As an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza has been confirmed, Japan has banned the import of chicken and other poultry meat from Mexico, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry said Wednesday (June 27).

The impact of the ban is expected to be minimal, given that Mexico accounts for less than 0.1% of Japanese imports of poultry meat that is not thermally processed. In 2011, Japan imported 377 tonnes of poultry meat from Mexico, according to the ministry.