March 1, 2004

Japan Allows Import Of Cooked Chicken From Thailand

Japan announced that it will resume cooked chicken imports from Thailand with immediate effect following an extensive safety inspection of Thai processing plants, a Thai minister said.

A team of Japanese experts inspected four processing plants and found they met with the safety standards that would ensure the chicken are free of the disease, Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob told reporters.

The Japanese government told Thailand that these four plants could start exporting heat-treated chicken to Japan as of Friday, Newin said.

"It means we can ship at least 150 tons of chicken a day for now. The exports are worth around 20 million baht ($1=THB39.25) per day," Newin said.

He said the team also visited another 11 plants but the decision on whether they are eligible to export would be revealed Monday.

Japan has banned all poultry, cooked and raw, from 12 countries and territories that reported bird flu outbreaks, including Thailand.

Before the ban, Thailand's annual poultry exports to Japan amounted to 240,000 tons, including 70,000 tons of cooked poultry, mostly chicken. Only China exports more to Japan.

The ban on raw chicken from Thailand remains.

Experts say that eating properly cooked chicken meat and eggs poses no health risk.

The deadly H5N1 strain of the avian virus has spread to eight Asian countries and territories, including Japan. Authorities have culled some 100 million chickens in a bid to control the spread of the disease. A less virulent strain has been found in the U.S., Pakistan and Taiwan.