November 23, 2005

Japan halts Canadian poultry imports on bird flu discovery

Japan's Agriculture Ministry on Monday ordered a temporary halt to Canadian poultry imports after bird flu was found at a duck farm in Canada's western province of British Columbia.

The Japanese government imposed the ban after receiving a report from Canada's capital Ottawa, saying that a duck at the farm was infected with a North American strain of the H5 bird flu virus.

The strain is not the more virulent H5N1 type that has caused at least 67 human deaths in Asia since 2003. Nevertheless, Canadian officials have started killing about 56,000 birds on the farm as a precautionary measure.

Japan has asked the Canadian government to provide further information about the case.

"We hope to get more details as soon as possible," said Agriculture Ministry spokesman Hiroyuki Kanegawa.

On Monday, the US, Taiwan and Hong Kong announced temporary bans on poultry imports from British Columbia following news of the case.

Canadian officials plan to report more on the situation to US and other foreign officials by the middle of the week.

Japan imported 71 tonnes of poultry meat and 13 tonnes of processed poultry meat products from Canada in 2004, according to Agriculture Ministry statistics.