October 7, 2004

Taiwan's Poultry Products Clear Japanese Inspections

A shipment of about 14 tons of Taiwan's poultry products have passed Japanese health inspections Wednesday and were allowed to enter the Japanese market, officials of the Cabinet-level Council of Agriculture said.

This is the first shipment since August 30 when the Japanese government announced it would lift its ban on poultry imports from Taiwan. Japan imposed the ban January 16, shortly after officials of the Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine under the COA discovered the H5N2 bird flu virus for the first time on a poultry farm in central Changhua County earlier the same month.

The COA applied to have the Japanese ban lifted June 11 after a 90-day period had passed without any fresh bird flu cases. Japan is the largest overseas market for Taiwan's poultry products with an annual consumption of 400 tons of chicken and 3,000 tons of ducks.