990379 Japan Reviewing Pork Import Rules

Washington - Japan does not plan to ban imports of pork that come from vaccinated hogs, but is considering a food safety rule change for pork imports, a Japanese Embassy aide said.

Masaki Sakai, agricultural counselor at the Japanese Embassy here, said a published report out of Seoul that Japan would ban imports of vaccinated hogs “was totally wrong.”

However, the Livestock Industry Bureau in the Japan Ministry of Agriculture is thinking about imposing more stringent requirements on pork imports from countries where hog cholera is present, he said.

Currently, Japan bans imports of pork from hogs that are within two kilometers of a hog cholera outbreak, Sakai said.

The agriculture ministry is considering a tougher standard that would ban imported pork from within a larger radius of a hog cholera outbreak, he said.

That could have some impact on imports from South Korea, but Sakai said he did not know how much. Sakai also said he was not certain how large an area surrounding an outbreak would be off limits. It could be 10 kilometers, he said.

Japan is considering the action because it has almost eradicated hog cholera and does not want the disease reintroduced, he said.

Virtually all of South Korea's pork exports go to Japan. In 1998, it exported a little more than 90,000 tonnes to Japan, double the previous year.

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