020129 Japan Partially Lifts U.S. Poultry Ban

Tokyo - Japan has partially lifted its import ban on U.S. poultry and poultry products to allow in those that were made from U.S. poultry slaughtered before November 11, and that have official certificates showing the slaughter date.

Japan's Agriculture Ministry said in a statement that the partial lifting of the ban would also apply to imports of U.S. poultry products processed in third countries.

The ministry imposed on January 12 a temporary ban on imports of U.S. poultry and poultry products following the discovery of a low-pathogenic avian influenza virus in some flocks in Pennsylvania.

Japan's farm ministry has said a low-pathogenic avian influenza could become a high- pathogenic form of the virus, which is a reportable disease under standards set by the Paris-based International Office of Epizootics.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Japan should remove the 90-day ban on imports of U.S. poultry and poultry products, arguing the ban was imposed unfairly.

"We see no justification for this action," Veneman wrote in a letter to her Japanese counterpart, Tsutomu Takebe, since the outbreak was not considered serious enough under international standards to warrant a quarantine.

"I urge you to immediately remove this unnecessary import restriction."

Japan buys about $170 million in U.S. poultry meat and egg products a year. Veneman said the import ban "is causing serious economic damage to U.S. poultry and egg producers in many regions of the United States."

Pennsylvania state officials have taken steps to contain the outbreak, including killing chickens to prevent the disease from spreading, inoculating poultry against the virus, cleaning and disinfection of buildings and stepped-up monitoring of flocks.

"U.S. actions taken to prevent the spread of this virus should assure your quarantine officials that U.S. poultry and poultry products meet international standards," the letter said.

In the letter to Takebe, Veneman said the January 12 ban "was disturbingly similar to the action taken by your government in November 2001, which was rescinded after we demonstrated a ban was unnecessary."

In that instance, Japan imposed an import ban on November 9 following discovery of avian influenza virus on a Connecticut farm. The ban was lifted two weeks later.

In 2000, Japan imported 87,322 tons of broilers and 1,895 tons of other poultry products from the United States, accounting for five percent of domestic demand.

In that year, Japan imported 568,270 tons of broilers and 15,965 tons of other poultry products overall. Japan produced 1.2 million tons of broilers in 2000.

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