Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Japan suspends Hungarian poultry imports over bird flu concerns
Japan is suspending imports of Hungarian poultry, including foie gras, over concerns about bird flu in the East European country, the farm ministry said.
‘In order to make our utmost effort to prevent the disease from entering our country, we have decided to temporarily suspend imports of poultry and its meat from Hungary,’ the ministry said in a statement.
Hungary is Japan’s second-largest exporter of foie gras following France, whose poultry is also banned here after the discovery in France of a case of H5N1, the strain of avian influenza at the center of a global health scare.
Japan and France had set a June 18 date to resume imports but are still discussing the technicalities.
Japan imported 331 tons of foie gras (duck/goose liver) from Hungary last year and 377 tons from France.