November 16, 2005

US to allow Chinese imports of processed chicken
 

The US government is working on a federal rule that would allow China to sell processed poultry to the US so long as the birds are not raised and slaughtered in China.

The USDA is scheduled to unveil the proposed rule sometime next week, a government official said.

US government and poultry industry officials discussed the rule with Chinese officials at a Beijing meeting this month and also asked China not to ban US poultry in the event of a future bird flu outbreak in the US.

China is a major chicken importer, but it is also a country that has a history of banning US shipments in reaction to bird flu outbreaks. Last year China banned all US chicken in response to regional outbreaks of mostly low-pathogenic forms of the virus. Currently, China still prohibits US poultry from the states of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New York.

China, together with Hong Kong, imported about US$190 million of US poultry in 2003, according to USDA data collected by the US Poultry and Egg Export Council.

Jim Sumner, president of the US Poultry and Egg Export Council, said the USDA rule would be much appreciated by China because of the stature it conveys.

Sumner said his primary objective at the Beijing meeting was to convince China not to over-react to bird flu outbreaks in the US. He said US exporters want China to become "more predictable ... so we know what to expect".

US government officials said they brought a representative of the World Organization for Animal Health to the November Beijing meeting in order to convince Chinese officials that international standards allow trade to continue during bird flu outbreaks.

The USDA has reported no bird flu outbreaks this year, a time when a particularly highly pathogenic strain of the virus-H5N1-has been spreading throughout Asia.

The H5N1 virus has infected people, but is still being spread primarily by birds.