December 17, 2009

South Korea's poultry booted out of Japanese market again

After regaining access to the Japanese poultry market less than three weeks ago, South Korea's poultry sector was red-carded once again due to bird flu.

A duck from South Jeolla Province was found to be infected with the low-pathogenic H7N2 virus. As a result, Japan's Agriculture Ministry has temporarily banned imports of Korean poultry products such as chicken.

Earlier this month, the Japanese government had lifted a two-year-old import ban on Korean poultry, saying that the safety of the products had been verified.

South Korea exported 349 tonnes of fresh chicken and 358 tonnes of duck meat in 2006.