October 15, 2010

Singapore lifts ban on Japanese meat

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) lifted a five-month ban on premium Japanese meats such as wagyu beef and kurobuta pork last week.

The ban came after Japan experienced the worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) in a century, which hit Miyazaki prefecture, an agricultural region on the island of Kyushu.

Yap Him Hoo, director of AVA's regulatory administration department, said the ban on meat imports from prefectures which are FMD free was lifted because the Japanese authorities have a comprehensive surveillance system in place to trace and contain livestock.

Beef and pork from Japan's Miyazaki prefecture, however, are still restricted.

AVA will consider lifting that suspension after the prefecture has been assessed to be free from FMD, according to the World Animal Health Organisation's guidelines, Yap added.

Although FMD does not affect humans, the virus is highly contagious among cloven-hoofed animals. A ban was therefore imposed in Singapore to safeguard the goat and cattle populations of farms in areas such as Lim Chu Kang.

This is not the first time Singapore's supply of Japanese wagyu beef has been cut.

A ban was imposed in 2001 when the mad-cow disease scare enveloped Japan. It was lifted last year, the same time Japanese kurobuta pork first became available in the country.

About 21 tonnes of beef and nine tonnes of pork were imported from Japan last year to meet the niche demand, totalling less than 1% of all beef and pork imports.