July 5, 2006

Proposed chicken meat import draws stiff opposition in Australia
 

Australia's poultry industry is objecting to a draft ruling that may open the way to the country's imports of chicken meat as they claimed imported products pose an unnecessary health risk to consumers.

In a risk analysis report, Biosecurity Australia had said imported uncooked chicken meat is safe as long as exporting countries can show proof they are free of diseases, including bird flu.

However, there is no way to be certain and doubts remain as to whether the systems in place would be able to ensure safety, said Dr Andreas Dubs from the Australian Chicken Meat Federation.

Peter Scott, from the Australian Veterinary Poultry Alliance, says authorities rely on information from producers, which may not always be accurate.

Scott cast further doubts on the safety of foreign chicken when he noted that some countries re-export the products they received from other countries.

Australia would be opening the issue to public comment until the end of August.